Black Star
by A-LionGleek
Summary: Blackfire has returned, and is hungry for revenge against Starfire. Hungry enough, in fact, to ally herself with a race of beings that make even some of the worst alien races look like saints and could well spell galaxy-wide doom. Only an unlikely partnership with a race of mutual old enemies can save the universe. But are they capable of working together to save the universe?
1. Prologue

**At long last, after a good couple years wait, I am FINALLY returning to my work on my Teen Titans fanfiction continuation of the DCTTAU. And boy am I hoping you all find just this part alone more than worth the long wait (and leave a respectable amount of feedback while we're at it)! Ladies and gentlemen, Titan-ics of all ages, I now present you the beginning of what will hopefully prove my triumphant return to the Teen Titans fanfiction community! Read on, and prepare, to be amazed!**

 **A/N: But first, as I'd best remind you, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. I do, however, own the OC race of beings that make their ominous debut here in this prologue. And with my legal bases covered, let's, without further ado, begin our story.**

 **Prologue:**

She shuddered slightly, waiting on the surface of the planet she'd disembarked upon. She looked around left to right at the area she was now standing in, her ship parked on the ground behind her. She sighed slightly as she ended up briefly gazing at her ship. The ship honestly hadn't entirely been necessary, and neither was her current outfit. After all, her species was a race that was quite adequately capable of surviving in space without a ship _or_ protective clothing of any sort, let alone the kind she was wearing. But in this case, she'd decided that it was better safe than sorry. After all, if what she'd heard about the area was true, then immediate possession of a vessel and protective outfit would be a wise course of action for even beings like herself that were capable of breathing in the vacuum of space.

She took another glance at the area directly in front of her, and mentally shuddered at the thought of what she'd heard about the alleged nature of this planet. If the information she'd heard was true, and she had no reason to believe that her sources on the matter would have lied, then this planet was reportedly one of two planets that served as a physical boundary for a galaxy where the literal forces of light and darkness had zero hope of balance. And in the case of this planet, she was arguably on the threshold of an entrance to a galaxy where light literally did not exist. And judging by the eerie look of the area around her, she had no trouble at all believing that this was indeed the true nature of this planet.

The planet itself had hardly looked all that appealing from the outside of its atmosphere, seemingly resembling nothing more than a ball of hardened gray sludge with nondescript hills sticking out on its surface every now and then. One such hill was what she was now standing in front of, and she could now get a clear look at some details about it that made her feel even more unnerved. For this hill, as it so turned out, was the exterior of none other than a very Hellish looking cave. Lined across the cave's entrance on both the top and bottom were a long line of stalactites and stalagmites that were positioned so that they made the cave resemble a gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth as if it were the jaws of a beast ready to devour her, an image she was not all that keen to keep in her head.

And even without the unappealing and unnerving nature of the planet's own appearance to consider, there was the appearance of the night sky she could see around the area of this planet's location. She looked skyward. Much like had been the case when she'd earlier been in the process of reaching the planet and landing her ship, the night sky looked completely normal and filled with the twinkling lights of countless stars, but the night sky in front of her looked very ominously unnatural in its darkness. This alternate night sky that intertwined with the ordinary night sky behind her was completely devoid of any stars, and looked so ominously dark black that she now couldn't help but notice that she couldn't even see the outline of the cave. She mentally shuddered, as this alone was all the more proof she needed to truly believe that this planet was merely an anchor holding a land of immeasurable literal darkness in place, and that traveling deep enough within the cave would result in her entering a darkness so total and absolute that it would be entirely likely that even the lights built into her suit wouldn't be able to help her see through the hollow and chilling nothingness located beyond the far side of this planet.

She directed her gaze towards the cave entrance, and it took all her willpower not to jolt in surprise. At some point while she'd been distracted, another being had come into view in front of her. It only took one look to recognize it as one of the natives she had been searching for.

The being in question seemed about the same height as her. Of course, for understandable reasons, this had initially proven quite difficult to determine. For this being was such a dark black that Blackfire now couldn't help but wonder if it had perhaps either arrived earlier then now or been standing there the whole time. After all, with how dark black it was in color, she could now see how it could have possibly been standing idle against the considerably dark gray surface of the cave entrance interior. Even the stalagmites were positioned just well enough so that it wouldn't stand out against their lighter gray surface.

But once she was able to adequately pinpoint its presence, she took note of how it seemed to resemble a hooded black cloak made of literal shadow energy. And if she concentrated, she could make out 'arms' folded across its 'chest'. Then, right before her eyes, she saw what appeared to be a pair of twin red circles of light materialize in the center of the 'hood'. The sight of which caused her to again fight with all her willpower not to physically shudder.

For what seemed like an eternity, this entity stared her down, examining and taking note of everything it could, memorizing every detail it would need. Then, right as she was seconds away from losing her composure, she heard a reverberating deep voice speak seemingly both within and outside her mind, "You are the one who transmitted the arrival signal?"

For a brief second, she was caught off guard. But then she managed to realize that the being in front of her, despite seemingly showing zero signs of moving a mouth, let alone any movement whatsoever, had just now spoken to her. "Yes," she responded. "I am."

The being seemed to raise its nonexistent left eyebrow, seemingly not fully convinced due to the visitor's relatively slow response time to its question. Then it seemed to accept the response it had gotten. "You truly dare to step foot on this land?"

Without hesitation, she nodded. "I do," she responded, her voice burning with determination.

The native hummed, its voice mostly impassive, but with just a tiny hint of approval present. The being then nodded its head, and directed its full attention upon her, its red eyes unblinking as they stared directly towards her helmeted face. "And you are the one who wishes to hold a meeting with our council?"

She lifted her gloved right hand, clenching it into a fist at the same time. "I am," she growled.

The dark being grunted, its shadowy head nodding. "Very well," it stated. "You may enter." It turned around to face the entrance to the cave. "Follow me."

For about an hour, they walked through the dark tunnel. The only source of light available being a series of glowing ominous red crystals affixed upon the left and right walls like torches. As they trekked further and further down the path, she couldn't help but notice how with each pair of crystals they passed, the light emitting from them grew gradually dimmer and dimmer.

At long last, after passing a pair of crystals giving off such dim light that they might as well not have been glowing at all, they entered a vast circular cavern. Much to her surprise, the room was surprisingly well lit considering the virtually nonexistent glow of the last pair of crystal 'torches' she and her guide had passed on the way to this chamber. The light for this room was provided by a pair of braziers that glowed with two red flames.

However, what attracted her attention the most were the gaping circular tunnel entrance in between the two braziers and the 12 beings gathered together in the very center of the chamber. One look at the impossibly black darkness within this tunnel entrance was enough for her to recognize it as the entrance to the galaxy of absolute darkness located beyond this planet.

Meanwhile, the 12 identical beings gathered about in the very center of the cavern, their red eyes agleam and staring ominously towards her and her guide, all looked exactly like her guide. In fact, the sight of these 12 other beings was enough to cause her to unconsciously pause in her movement. By the time she realized this and redirected her attention back towards her guide, he had already taken 13 steps ahead of her, and she hurriedly prepared herself to catch up with him. Her guide turned his head to face her, his red eyes bright and fierce, and his right arm raised with his 'hand' directly facing her. It was clear that this gesture from him was a silent order to 'wait'.

She relaxed as the shadowy figure turned his head away from her, and joined his 12 compatriots. They positioned themselves so that all 13 of the shadowy beings were standing together side by side in a circle, their arms positioned much like those of a praying mantis. Then they leaned forward, their heads coming together and merging together as one, and for the next few minutes, they stayed this way, unmoving and silent.

As they remained thus merged together, she leaned her head in their direction, trying to hear them speaking if they were in fact talking. However, while she was able to hear some noises being spoken amongst them, she couldn't hear enough to adequately mentally string together a coherent statement, let alone a conversation. Unlike the fluent English that he had used in his speech with her not too long ago, what few words she could now hear spoken in their communication were of an ominous and unnerving language that she had no hope of understanding.

They reached an end to their conversation, and their heads detached from their merger, allowing each of them to take several steps backward in their respective directions. As one, they all turned around and positioned themselves so that they were facing her, the one who'd greeted her standing in the very center of the line. The being in question stepped forward, his arms folded across his chest.

It came to a stop, red eyes impassive and gazing intently at the one who'd dared step foot on his home planet and threshold to the entire galaxy he and his kin unrepentantly ruled all to themselves. Then he nodded his head a single time.

"My fellow councilmen and I are willing to potentially allow an alliance with you, much as a predecessor of yours once did so many years ago." Sensing that she was about to make a happy response to this news, he lifted his hand to forestall any comment from her. "However, my fellow councilmen and I must know this; what is it you wish to offer to us in exchange for this companionship?"

She nodded her head, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. She looked directly into the face of the being who'd addressed her, her eyes agleam with determination underneath the visor of her helmet.

"I offer you the opportunity to go beyond the boundaries of your system and spread across the entire universe; the ability to freely wander and rule without worry about reprisal from even your eternal enemies of the galaxy of light. I also wish to offer you my services as your champion and eventual willing host to the one you serve and worship as a god."

The being gave a curt nod. "I see." He bowed slightly as if in respect. "Please; do excuse me."

They reformed their circle and merged their heads once more. After several minutes, they once again split apart from their merging.

"My fellow councilmen and I find appeal in your offer. However, we must ask you one other question. Why is it you wish to ally yourself with us? Surely you know how such things you are asking do not come lightly. Are you certain this is what you truly want? And if so, why?"

"Yes," she answered. "I do. And why I want this?" She took yet another deep breath, "Simple. I want revenge." She lifted her right hand, clenching it into a fist in the process, a glowing aura encasing the glove and fist in response to her unconsciously rising sense of tranquil fury.

"Revenge against my sister who throughout my life has wronged me again, and again, and again. Revenge against her friends. Revenge against my people." She lowered her clenched right fist. "I no longer care about anything else. I've lost so much at this point, been wronged so many times, and fallen so very far in my life, that nothing else matters to me. All I want now is the satisfaction of finally getting my long-desired revenge against my sister. For once standing in triumph over her as she gazes helplessly up at me. Finally being the one to have won against her and successfully left her as the one being wronged in her undeservingly, privileged and joyous life that she was too arrogant and selfish to share with me."

She straightened herself up further, standing tall in her determination and focus. "That, and nothing else, is all that I desire now, and I will gladly give you what I am now offering in exchange for this one and true chance at finally achieving it."

For what seemed like an eternity, they all remained silent, staring each other down. Then, right as she was starting to feel the slightest twinge of impatience begin to bubble up within her, the being subtly nodded his head.

"I see. As you can see, we are no strangers to darkness." He nodded his head once more, this time more obviously as opposed to the subtler single nod. "But this darkness that you wish of us is something truly remarkable." He lifted his head, his red eyes now gleaming considerably brighter, almost as if in sadistic joy. "Just like your predecessor's exact same, yet different, desire from so many years since past." He lifted his left 'hand', seemingly clenching it into a 'fist' of his own. "I love it! But please, do excuse me one more time."

In a flash, he and his 12 companions assembled back into a circle and merged their heads together one final time. And this time, after several minutes had passed, she managed to hear them chant, "Chon gon-gon-gon, chon gon-gon-gon, chon gon-gon-gon-gon!"

Once they had finished chanting, they split from their merger and faced her again. "The council has discussed and weighed your offer." The 13 beings bowed slightly in respect, their hands clasped together. "The council has reached a decision. And it is unanimous. You shall grant us exactly what you offered, no more, no less, and in exchange, my fellow councilmen and I, plus all our soldiers, shall personally provide you with all that we can give to allow you to successfully achieve the dark wish you desire, and that your predecessor himself wished from us so many years past. Do you find what we have to offer acceptable, Komand'r of Tamaran?"

She paused before she lifted her hands, clutched the base of her helmet, and with a click, lifted it off and away from her head and face, revealing her face in the light of the flames, her long pitch-black hair cascading down her back now that it was freed from the confines of her helmet. She opened her violet purple eyes, a sadistic look of glee and triumph appearing within them while her mouth simultaneously took on a similarly sadistic and gleeful grin. "Yes," she purred. "I, Blackfire of Tamaran, accept your offer."

 **And just like that, the prologue for episode 6.04 of the A-LionGleek style Teen Titans season 6 begins! Hoping once again that those of you who read this enjoyed it and found it well worth the wait. Furthermore, I am also hoping to receive a respectable amount of feedback for this chapter. Remember, I require a minimum of 1, maybe 2, reviews for this in order to guarantee that I will post the next chapter. All that said, let's hope you're all ready for some long awaited continuation of A-LionGleek provided enjoyment, because I am BACK!**

 **P.S: And while we're at it, let's all give a warm thank you to my fantastic beta reader (and fellow fanfic writer on this site and fandom) Bearhow!**

 **Coming up next: A seemingly ordinary morning at Titans Tower goes flying out the window when first Starfire, and then a couple surprise visitors, brings some unpleasant news regarding the continued safety of the universe. Sound fun? I certainly hope so!**


	2. A Crisis of Intergalactic Proportions

**Hello everyone! Here I am with a brand new chapter! In this official 1st (non-prologue) chapter of Black Star, a seemingly ordinary morning at Titans Tower is interrupted by the arrival of some pleasantly surprising guests who bring considerably less pleasant news for Starfire and the Titans regarding the continued safety of the universe. Sound like fun? I certainly hope so! And thanks to my hard work and Bearhow's careful (and much appreciated) editing of my initial 'rough cut', hopefully you'll indeed enjoy what I now have to offer (not to mention leave a respectable amount of feedback). All that said . . .**

 **A/N: Oh wait, almost forgot. I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based (regardless of whether it is something that physically appears in this chapter or gets merely mentioned). Furthermore, I also do not own the Star Wars franchise either. Or the works of a certain pair of filmmakers whose movies I largely wish had never been made. All that said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 1:**

 **A Crisis of Intergalactic Proportions**

Four young housemates present in the living room of the giant 'T' shaped tower, were attempting to enjoy a quiet afternoon watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Emphasis on the word "attempting". Two of the teens, however, were engaged in one of their infamous squabbles.

"Come on grass stain," Cyborg threw up his metallic hands in frustration. "How is it that you hate the newest Star Wars movies?"

"That's not what I said, and you know it," Beast Boy, his emerald eyes narrowed into a glare at his half robot best friend. He then shoved his finger into his face. "All I said was that I'm not a huge fan of the newer stuff is all!"

"And I'll tell you again," said Cyborg, "that you've already made that point clear, so stop harping on about it!"

Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys," she grumbled.

Robin, meanwhile, had his eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Guys," he stated warningly.

"Look dude," said Beast Boy still inches from Cyborgs face. "we both at least enjoy this Star Wars movie. Can't we just watch it for Robin and Raven's sake?"

"Well you could make it easier," said Cyborg, before pointing at Beast Boy and continuing, "if you would just admit that the newest Star Wars movies are not worse than all the Seltzer and Friedberg movies combined!"

"Dude, I never said that!" Beast Boy yelled. "Stop putting words in my mouth!"

"GUYS!" Robin yelled. The two arguing boys turned their attention to their fearless leader. "Seriously, stop," he pointed at the TV screen, "and enjoy the movie. Do you want me to change the channel back to that talk show?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy promptly grumbled unintelligibly, turned their heads to face the TV screen, and folded their arms across their chests with disgruntled glares on their faces. Robin took a deep breath, exhaled, and then turned his own head back to face the TV screen, simultaneously pinching his nose and feeling the beginnings of a headache starting to form. "Ten and a half months, plus one day, before I have to literally go to Hell, and this is the kind of craziness I still have to deal with in my free time," he thought to himself. He shook his head. "I really wish Starfire were in here right now."

"Friends, is everything the alright?"

The other four Titans turned their heads to look behind them in time to see none other than Starfire herself standing in front of the now closing main door to the common room, a concerned look on her face.

It took all of Robin's willpower not to let out a sigh of relief. "Speak of the Devil," he thought happily to himself before mentally facepalming at his less then pleasant choice of mental words. "Oh don't worry Star," he said, smile still on his face to mask his brief discomfort. "Everything's fine."

"Yeah, what he said," said Beast Boy as he pointed at Robin. "Everything's just fine and dandy."

Cyborg directed a look at the shapeshifter, his eyebrow raised, and Beast Boy chuckled nervously. "Or, well, sort of anyway."

"That's one way to put it," Raven droned, Beast Boy promptly slumping over with a rankled look on his face with a sidelong glare directed towards the half demoness for good measure.

"If you say so," said Starfire. She directed a look at the television. "What are you watching?"

"Return of the Jedi," said Cyborg. "6th Star Wars movie. Would have waited for you but Robin said you really didn't want to be bothered, and it was the first thing we found playing on TV today that was actually good."

Raven rolled her eyes. "It's certainly better than that boring talk show that was playing when we first turned the television on this morning."

Beast Boy shuddered. "I'll say," he agreed. "That self-help guru who was there as a guest on that show this morning? He had to have weighed a ton; he was so full of himself. And don't even get me started on the host." He snorted, rolling his eyes. Then his face took on a thoughtful, albeit slightly confused, expression.

"That guest though," he then said. He thought to himself some more. "Wasn't he that same guy who wrote that 'Men are from Jupiter, Women are from Venus' book?"

"I do not believe that Jupiter or Venus are habitable," Starfire said, now clearly confused. "Certainly not by Earthlings."

"It's Mars," said Raven. "Not Jupiter."

Starfire put a finger to her chin. "Mars may still be marginally habitable."

"Ok," Robin said, now feeling slightly confused and off guard by how the conversation had deviated from its original topic. "I think we're getting off topic here."

"Don't worry Robin," said Cyborg. "We can get back on track." He turned his head to face Beast Boy. "Oh, and for the record Beast Boy, that guy you're thinking of? Different person anyway."

"Anyway," said Robin, seemingly ignoring Cyborg's last comment to Beast Boy. "We're still relatively not that far into the movie, so you're free to join up with us if you want."

"Not gonna argue there," said Cyborg. "I mean, it's not every day that we're all able to hang around together without Raven and BB making things feel just as awkward for us as it already is between them."

It had been a week since Valentine's Day in Jump City, and the other Titans had very quickly noticed the lingering effects of that week on Beast Boy and Raven's behavior. In that week, Beast Boy had ended up revealing to Raven the possibility that he'd developed potentially romantic feelings for her, followed by the two mutually agreeing to give each other time to sort things out and get their minds and feelings in order. However, even with only a week having passed since, and despite Beast Boy and Raven constantly claiming that everything was just fine, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire all couldn't help but feel as if their two chromatically challenged friends were spending much more time awkwardly dancing around each other and the issue between them then making any worthwhile progress on getting things resolved. But of course, all three of them had the feeling that attempting to intervene would potentially do more harm than good.

As it so happened, this current unwitting instance from Cyborg proved no different, as he soon found out seeing the glares from both Raven and Beast Boy. "Cyborg," Raven hissed. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Shut up."

"You heard Rae," said Beast Boy. "we're handling it, ok?"

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, and was seconds away from making a response, but then he heard a cough, and looked at Robin in time to see the Boy Wonder shake his head 'no'. Raven and Beast Boy directed slight side glances towards Robin as well, and similarly chewed down their annoyance at Cyborg. Now didn't seem like the proper time to let drama ruin what could very well shape up to be a plenty enjoyable morning. Particularly since Beast Boy and Cyborg's earlier argument had similarly risked such a fate.

"Like I was saying," said Robin. "You're free to join us in watching Return of the Jedi." Then he took a closer look at Starfire and noticed the look of uncertainty and concern that had now returned to Starfire's face. "Unless, of course, there was something else you needed?"

Starfire took a deep breath, and then directed a worried look at Robin. In that instant, all four of Starfire's fellow Titans found themselves directing their own worried looks at Starfire. Considering how chipper and unrepentantly happy the Tamaranean usually tended to be, the times in which she was in a mood like her current one were never to be taken lightly.

"Is uh, something wrong?" Beast Boy asked.

"I fear their might be," Starfire responded, her tone appearing rather somber.

This got the other Titans even more concerned than they already were.

"What happened?" Cyborg. "What's wrong?"

Starfire took another deep breath. "Earlier this morning, right as I was finishing up the last of my post-breakfast preparations for the day." She lifted her right hand to indicate the jewels in her shirt and 'gloves'. "These started blinking."

Robin drew out his communicator, his eyes narrowing in confusion and suspicion. "Odd," he said. "My communicator doesn't appear to have done the same." He looked over at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. "What about you? Any blinking on your ends?"

The other three Titans shook their heads in the negative.

Robin thought to himself, looking once again at his communicator. "Why would Starfire's gems go off like that?" he asked aloud to himself.

"You know Robin," said Raven. "Last time I checked, there is one other moment Starfire claims this kind of thing happened once before."

Robin looked at the half demoness, his eyebrow raised. "When was that?"

Raven raised her own eyebrow. "You really don't remember?"

Robin glared.

"Oh wow," said Cyborg. "Man, I thought for sure you'd still remember that time. Especially considering how funny it was dealing with everything that happened to Beast Boy."

"Not funny," Beast Boy pouted. But then a cheeky grin came on his face. "What is funny though," the shapeshifter continued, "is the way you behaved Robin. I mean, honestly? I thought you'd literally burst into flames at one point! You were so jealous that day!"

"What are you talking about . . .?"

Robin then paused, his mind finally putting two and two together and getting four. "Starfire's almost wedding."

Raven and Cyborg nodded. Beast Boy grinned and flashed Robin a double thumbs-up.

Robin mentally rolled his eyes at Beast Boy's response, and directed his attention back to Starfire.

"Star?" he asked. "Tamaran. Is it in trouble?"

Starfire hung her head. "I do not know," she responded. She lifted her head. "Or at least, not for certain. The message I received after I noticed my gems blinking indicated that something terrible was at risk of happening; but they wouldn't give me a full explanation as to what it was."

"That doesn't sound very helpful," said Cyborg.

"Indeed it is not," Starfire agreed. She directed her attention towards the rest of her friends. "They did, however, say that I could expect a visitor within the next few days who would explain it further to me, and potentially to you. They say they believed it would be wiser and more convenient to do this in person rather than in a message."

The other Titans promptly noted this information in their minds, Beast Boy going so far as to gulp.

"It must be really serious if they decided to send a guest to us for explanation instead of just explaining in a message," said the changeling. He turned his head to face the TV screen and windows, only for his eyebrow to raise in half confusion and half worry. In a flash, he lifted the remote and turned off the TV.

"What the?" said Cyborg. "Why'd you turn off the TV?!"

Beast Boy pointed out the now blank window that doubled as the television. "Would that have anything to do with this guest you mentioned Star?"

Starfire and the other Titans all looked in the direction Beast Boy was pointing, and their eyes widened at the sight of what looked like some sort of spaceship descending towards the bay outside the tower.

Robin eventually tore his gaze away from the space ship and saw the wide-eyed look of shock on his girlfriend's face. "Star?" he asked. He pointed at the ship once Starfire had her attention on him. "Is that the guest you said your people told you to expect?"

Starfire paused for a moment, thinking to herself. "Yes," she eventually responded. "It is." She shook her head side to side in bemusement. "But I must admit, I was not expecting them to arrive so soon after I received the message."

"Tamaran must have wanted this news given to you fast," said Cyborg. He took a closer look at the approaching ship. "That ship; is it Tamaranean?"

Starfire nodded. "It is."

"I thought Tamaran didn't have spaceships," said Beast Boy.

"I'm afraid you thought wrong friend," said Starfire. She gestured towards the ship. "Yes, my kind hardly need use them anymore. But in the earliest days of our society, the spaceships we had, combined with some appropriate protective gear, were invaluable for our kind on account of our not yet having developed the ability to breath or similarly survive in any atmosphere apart from that of our home planet unaided. While we have since lost the need for those ships and protective outfits, we still keep our ships around and updated for the times just in case we need them for special occasions or especially dire emergencies."

Starfire took another look at the ship. "Even if I were to have expected my people to come here by ship, I was most definitely never going to expect them to use a ship like this."

"Why not?" Raven asked.

"Observe," said the Tamaranean as she pointed at the ship. "Those fin like extensions on the top of the ship's back and undersides of its wings. Or the orange coloring on the very front complete with black stripes. Or the decorative fang-like extensions underneath the 'nose'. A ship of this design is reserved exclusively for Tamaranean nobility."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "A Tamaranean royal arriving here by ship in record time?"

"Whatever the situation on Tamaran is must really be bad," said Cyborg.

"Well we'd better not keep this messenger waiting," Robin said resolutely. He turned around and ran past Starfire towards the main common room door. "Come on team. Let's get out there so we're ready to greet them when they land."

. . . . .

A minute later, all five of the teenage superheroes were waiting outside the tower just in time for the large Tamaranean ship to come to a landing not too far from the bay. As the ship made noises that indicated it was winding down and would soon open its doors, Robin directed a side glance at Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy; particularly towards the latter two. "Remember everyone," he said. "We're in the presence of nobility. So whatever you do, be on your best behavior."

Cyborg and Beast Boy nodded, and Raven rolled her eyes dismissively.

The large door hatch on the bottom of the ship opened. Once the resulting ramp was fully lowered, three figures came walking down. Upon sight of their orange skin, the Titans instantly recognized them as Tamaraneans. All three of them were dressed in the exact type of clothing that Robin remembered to have been worn by the royal guards during the time they'd visited Tamaran three years ago. The guard in the very front of the trio seemed well-built, and had long reddish orange hair that was in convenient view on account of him carrying his helmet in his hands instead of on his head. The two other guards walking behind him had their hair covered up with their helmets.

The trio of guards came to a stop, staring impassively at the Titans. In the period of silence that passed, Robin found himself raising his eyebrow as he observed the helmetless guard in the front. He couldn't help but feel as if he'd seen this Tamaranean before. Starfire, meanwhile, also seemed to recognize that same guard, but with more of a half happy and half regretful look on her own face compared to Robin's outright confusion.

The helmetless guard nodded his head, and then gave a respectful bow. "Greetings to you, Princess Starfire," he said.

Starfire nodded, her own face taking on an impassive look for the sake of formality. "Greetings to you, captain."

If the captain had any strong feelings to being referred to merely by his title, he showed no sign of it. He only nodded, and turned his head to face his two subordinates. He stepped to his right, the two subordinates turning sideways to face each other and taking steps back in the process.

Seconds later, right as the Titans saw the outline of a rather bulky and large figure appear at the top of the exit ramp, the captain gestured his hand. "Presenting his excellency, Emperor Galfore."

The Titans' eyes widened in surprise. This was big news. And sure enough, the heavy-set figure stepped into view out of the ship and down the ramp, and the Titans instantly recognized him on sight as indeed being Galfore.

When the burly Tamaranean emperor reached the bottom of the ramp, the Titans belatedly remembered their manners and bowed. They stayed in this position right up to the moment that Galfore came to a stop directly in front of them. He spent a few seconds standing still with an impassive look on his face. Then he allowed a warm smile, and placed his hand on Starfire's left shoulder, the younger Tamaranean lifting her head and facing up towards him in response. The older Tamaranean's smile widened, and he nodded his head. "Arise little one."

In that instant, all pretense of being proper evaporated from Starfire, and with a joyous half tearful squeal of joy, she leaped up and wrapped her arms around Galfore's neck in a hug. Galfore returned the embrace, making extra sure not to risk crushing her comparatively delicate body with his immensely thick arms.

The other Titans couldn't help but smile while keeping their heads bowed. After all, as much rotten luck as they had in regard to several of their own parents or parental figures, they were most certainly not going to begrudge Starfire of her quite happy relationship with this father figure of hers.

Eventually, with Starfire still giggling, the two Tamaraneans ended their embrace and Galfore placed Starfire gently on her feet. Starfire giggled one last time and wiped her joyous tears away. "Oh K'norfka," she stated. "It is such a great joy to see you again."

Galfore chuckled, a warm fatherly look still in his eyes. "Same to you my little Koriand'r." He directed his gaze towards Starfire's four fellow titans. "Arise warriors," he stated.

The titans rose from their bow, Robin noticeably doing so a couple seconds behind the time it took for Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy to rise. And while the latter three titans seemed perfectly at ease, Robin still had a respectable amount of nerves clearly showing in his facial expression. As much as the Boy Wonder was happy that his girlfriend had a genuinely loving father figure in her life, the fact that Galfore filled this role was also more than enough to make Robin feel quite understandably nervous and uncertain of how best to proceed and behave around him.

He remembered how he'd unintentionally gotten himself on Galfore's bad side for a brief moment after first meeting him three years prior on Tamaran. And while that incident had come and gone without too much trouble, plus with a mercifully quick resolution, Robin still, to this day, had no real idea just what the Tamaranean gentle giant thought of him or how he felt about his affiliation with his surrogate daughter. And much like any boy trying to make a good impression for his girlfriend's father, the teen caped crusader felt quite understandably as if he were walking on eggshells.

Galfore, noticing how tense and nervous Robin appeared to be, raised his eyebrow in amusement. "At ease, soldier," he stated.

Robin gulped, fighting not to outright scream at Galfore's suddenly addressing him. "Right," he sputtered. "Yes sir." The Boy Wonder started taking multiple deep breaths, trying desperately to calm himself down. Beast Boy and Cyborg shook their heads in amusement at Robin's antics while Raven rolled her eyes and Starfire looked on in confusion as to her boyfriend's apparent nerves and stress.

Robin finally managed to seemingly calm himself down sufficiently. He stared Galfore straight in the face. "Greetings to you." He nodded his head. "You're excellency." He gestured his arms helplessly to this sides. "Um . . . welcome to Earth?"

Beast Boy facepalmed, half out of embarrassment and half out of necessity to hide the fact that he was visibly struggling not to laugh. Cyborg shook his head side to side with a mildly amused look on his own face. Raven, meanwhile, sighed, and shook her head side to side with a look of what seemed to be sympathy.

Starfire decided to try to come to her boyfriend's rescue. "K'norfka," she stated, the giant Tamaranean turning his head to face her. "As much as I am happy to see you after all this time, and how I was sure that someone important would likely be trusted to be the guest I was told to expect. . ." She paused briefly. "Well forgive me if I cause any offense, but I was not expecting you to personally be here, or for you to arrive here so quickly after I received the message."

"No offense taken little one," said Galfore. Then his face took on a somewhat sadder expression. "And I am sorry that I must now see you under these circumstances." He gestured towards the ship he'd arrived in. "There are many circumstances where indeed I would have merely sent a messenger." He nodded his head. "But the situation that Tamaran, and potentially X'hal knows how much more of the universe, could soon be at risk of undergoing, was something that I truly had to speak to you about in person, face to face." He took a deep breath. "And yes, as you have most certainly noticed, I made sure to reach you in record time. I even made sure to broker a deal with the Green Lantern Corps personally to ensure that I would be allowed to personally come to Earth to spread the news to you and your friends; and you know how our people feel about them."

His facial expression changed once more, this time with a slight angry light burning in his emerald eyes. "We have received word, more than once I'm afraid, that your sister has long departed from Dranthax IV, and is committing crimes once more."

Starfire nodded once, and then hung her head, a look of resigned sadness coming onto her face.

"That doesn't sound too big of a deal," Beast Boy abruptly stated, only to instantly wince under the withering glares from his four fellow Titans, plus Galfore, sent his way the second he said this. "Sorry," he hurriedly backpedaled. "That was out of turn." He hung his head, wringing his gloved hands in an act of shame. "And uncalled for. Continue please." The other Titans snorted, and returned their attention to Galfore, who took a deep calming breath.

"It is grudgingly that I accept the green one's point," said the Tamaranean Emperor. He nodded his head. "However," he continued, "it is not so much the mere fact that she is currently actively up to no good, as both exactly what it is she's doing and who she has chosen to ally herself with."

The last detail instantly got all five of the Titans' attention. "Allies?" Starfire asked.

"Who?" Robin impulsively asked. "The Gordanians?"

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven were instantly on guard upon hearing that name. They'd all had bad experiences with that particular species in the past, and so had Robin and Starfire. And judging from what they knew of Blackfire, they saw no reason to be surprised if she had in fact chosen to ally herself with them.

But much to their surprise, Galfore shook his head side to side. "I truly do wish that she were allied with those slimy clorbags," he snarled. "At least then, it would be an enemy I am personally familiar with and a choice of allies that I would genuinely understand her reasoning behind choosing. But no, from what reports say, she has chosen to ally with a race of beings considerably worse."

"Which race?" Robin blurted out. He winced as he realized he'd once again impulsively spoken potentially out of turn. "If, you don't mind my asking?" Even as he asked, and despite his slight misgivings about his behavior, he was already thinking a mile a minute about all manner of hostile alien individuals and races that he was familiar with thanks to his time under Batman's wing, and how each and every one of them could well prove devastating if actively working alongside Blackfire. And considering how many of them were already capable of causing plenty of trouble alone, the thought of them allying with anyone, let alone Blackfire, was not a comforting thought.

Galfore nodded, seemingly not minding the Boy Wonder's curiosity. "A race that I wish the universe never had to know the name of. A race that make some of the worst known races look virtuous by comparison." He lifted his head, directing a dead serious look towards the Titans. "It is rumored," he then said, "that these beings are so vile that even the H'San Natall fear them."

Starfire's eyes widened upon hearing this. The other Titans also became fairly stunned upon hearing this information. All five of them were at least aware of the H'San Natall to varying lengths thanks to talks they'd had with Hotspot and Argent. What they all knew was that the H'San Natall were one of the most ruthless alien races in the universe, unrepentant galactic conquerors, more than willing and guilty of going to all manner of morally reprehensible lengths, and even rumored to be actively avoided by Darkseid himself. The idea of an alien race capable of terrifying even them was not a pleasant thought to say the least

"K'norfka," Starfire managed to speak. "The H'San Natall; they are one of the worst races in all the universe. What race could possibly be so much worse than them?"

Galfore sighed, and hung his head. "A race that, were it not for your parents' explicit wishes, I would have made sure you and your siblings would have been aware of the instant you were deemed old enough to properly learn and be aware of our history and culture. A race that I have kept silent about around you and your sister for far too long and may very well have even informed your brother about far later then I should have."

The four non-Tamaranean titans mentally raised their eyebrows. They had occasionally heard mentions of Starfire having a brother before. But even now they still had no full idea of just who he was, what he was like, or why Starfire had for so long still not allowed them to know the full story about him. But then they filed the information back to the backs of their minds. Now was not the time to focus too much on this detail. Right now, there were more important things to worry about. And besides, they were sure that Starfire would eventually tell them the full story once she felt like doing so.

Galfore turned his head to face the three guards. "Captain," he stated, "do excuse me. What I am about to tell my surrogate bumgorf and her friends is something that I'd feel more comfort in speaking of without you present to actively listen to. I understand that time is of the essence, but I promise that I will return to the ship in due time."

"Yes my lord," said the captain. The helmetless guard turned to face his two subordinates. "You heard his excellency," he said to the two guards. "Let us return to the ship." In a flash, the three guards had departed back on board the ship.

Once the guards were gone, Galfore returned his attention to Starfire and the other titans, and then took a deep breath. "Listen carefully," he began. "For the information I am about to give you is of the utmost importance. Knowing this information I am about to give you could very well mean all the difference in preventing a crisis of truly intergalactic proportions. I am about to tell you about a race of beings known simply as," his eyes narrowed in half anger and half trepidation, "the Umbrosians."

 **And just like that, the story is truly off to a dazzling start! I hope you all read and enjoy what I have to offer this time around (and leave a respectable amount of feedback (flames don't count)). I especially hope for the following factors:**

 **A: That you like how I've currently written and handled Galfore so far. He's arguably one of the aspects of this story that I've really been looking forward to for a while (again, one of the aspects, not the only one), and I hope I've done him justice so far.**

 **B: That you like how I had Starfire's gems blink without Robin's communicator, Raven's gems, Beast Boy's belt device, or Cyborg's cybernetic eye blink as well. You see, I had recently started to wonder more strongly then before just HOW Starfire was able to get messages from Tamaran like she did in the 'Betrothed' episode of Season 3. Then I noticed how Starfire's clothing gems, plus those other aforementioned items all happened to blink uncontrollably in 'How Long is Forever' and 'Terra'. And after a bit of time continuing my thoughts, voila! Question answered! At least for this story anyway.**

 **C: The fact that the race of beings that Blackfire met with in the prologue has** ** _finally_** **gotten their name revealed to you all.**

 **All that said, again I hope you read and enjoy! And remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews before I publish the next (completed and Bearhow approved) chapter.**

 **Coming up next: Galfore gives the Titans some much needed exposition on just how badly the universe could be at risk of destruction, as well as some interesting history on Tamaran's past.**


	3. The Legend

**Alright everyone! Hope you're ready for more Teen Titan-ic awesomeness, because here I am! Now I'll admit, this chapter ended up needing a fairly substantial rewrite after the initial 'rough cut' proved, in the eyes of my beta reader, both A: too harmful towards the story's pacing and B: containing of too many potential spoilers for later events in this story. Thankfully though, I was able to get this chapter rewritten sufficiently enough to avert these two problems as far as my beta and I believe. That being said, here's to hoping this chapter proves enjoyable for all readers, and that you leave plenty of (NONFLAME!) feedback. In this chapter, Galfore give the Titans some much needed information about the Umbrosians as well as the last time they threatened the universe. All that said, onward with the fic people!**

 **A/N: But first, I'd best remind you all that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. I do, however, own the Umbrosians. NOW onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 2:**

 **The Legend**

"To fully understand and get an idea of the magnitude of what we're at risk of dealing with, I must first give you an explanation of some important elements of our culture, legends, and history." Galfore pointed at Robin. "And before you ask, yes, all this information I'm about to tell you will make sense later, and be relevant to the immediate situation."

Robin briefly narrowed his eyes behind his mask, not exactly pleased that Galfore seemed to have expected him to ask how the information he was about to immediately give would be relevant to the situation. But he bit his tongue, for that matter was far from important at the moment.

"As Starfire is aware," Galfore began. "The people of Tamaran are descended from a species of beast that shared many similarities with what the people of Earth call cats."

Beast Boy silently whistled when he heard this, finding it quite interesting.

"One thing our people retained from the animals they evolved from," Galfore continued, "was the beasts' sense of pride. And with the exception of the Gordanians and Thanagarians, whom they occasionally warred with, they largely kept to themselves."

"However," he then stated. "That all changed when a race called the Umbrosians came into play. These beings, literally born and consisting of shadows, dwell within a far, far, far out of reach corner of the universe where no light exists and only absolute darkness reigns supreme. Their nominal home planet, Umbrosia, serves as an anchor and boundary keeping the vastness of the dark galaxy in check. How they came into play?"

Galfore sighed. "Through means that appear to have been sadly repeated three weeks ago by Blackfire." He looked up at the Titans, particularly Starfire. "In the time in which the Umbrosians last attempted what they now appear to be attempting, there were three royal children of Tamaran; two brothers, and their younger sister. The eldest, Nightfire, was a proud and mighty warrior. Of the three royal siblings of that generation, Nightfire was by far the strongest, smartest, most athletically capable, and largely considered to be the better fighter. However, all his talent went to his head, and he was very arrogant, self-absorbed, and unapproachable to his people. He was also very focused and driven on potentially expanding the empire past the planet's boundaries through outright war."

Starfire hung her head, and the other Titans shuddered. Already they were starting to see the uncomfortable parallels to be found between Nightfire and Blackfire, and also where the story would likely go from here.

"Two years younger then him," Galfore explained, "was his brother Dayfire. And while he wasn't quite as obviously strong, smart, or similarly gifted compared to his brother, Dayfire more than made up for it in the eyes of their people and parents through how kindhearted, compassionate, yet still ultimately willing to follow his principles and do what he believed was genuinely the right thing he was."

The other Titans promptly looked at Starfire, who nodded her head with a half saddened and half happy smile on her face. It was clear she was just as capable as they were of seeing herself in Dayfire.

"One week away from the day in which their parents would formally announce which of their children would be named the heir to the throne," Galfore continued, "Nightfire was so sure that he would be the one appointed in the end that he spent every opportunity he could openly bragging about it. But on the day of the announcement, the reigning emperor and empress announced Dayfire to be the heir, much to Dayfire's pleasant shock and Nightfire's rage."

The Titans all looked at each other. So far, they were definitely still getting feelings of déjà vu regarding the two brothers of this apparent history lesson and the way things were between Starfire and Blackfire.

"But then, days before what would almost certainly have been Dayfire's coronation," Galfore continued. "Nightfire committed a truly despicable action. He allied himself with the Umbrosians; and with their help, he started committing multiple crimes and atrocities across various worlds throughout the galaxy. If he and that army of Umbrosians had been allowed to continue their actions longer then they did, it is entirely possible that the Umbrosians would have spread their influence, plus the literal absolute darkness of their homeland, throughout the entire universe. And that's without considering how the actions they were committing were also enough to produce increasingly high tensions amongst various races that, if left unchecked, could easily have resulted in all out galaxy-wide warfare on an even more widespread level."

Galfore took a deep breath, and the Titans gulped. Starfire, however, only hung her head.

"But the very thing that had led Nightfire to cause all these problems in the first place, his extremely strong pride, was also one of his most debilitating flaws. And as a result of his pride, he was extremely insistent on not fully committing his allies' efforts to openly attacking and spreading their power throughout the entire universe until he had successfully conquered Tamaran and slain his brother first. And so, after spending considerable time preparing for this confrontation and committing comparatively minor crimes across more separate planets, he and the Umbrosians finally challenged Dayfire and the forces of Tamaran directly outside Tamaran's atmosphere."

Galfore let a few seconds pause follow his latest statement. Cyborg was the one to break the silence first. "How did they handle it all?" Cyborg asked. "Your people I mean?"

Galfore nodded his head in understanding. "Much like Nightfire," Galfore said, "Dayfire and the rest of the Tamaranean army were not alone in the conflict." He pointed at the sun. "For as there is darkness, there is also light. And on another difficult to reach corner of the universe, there is a galaxy where only absolute light reigns without so much as a speck of darkness. The galaxy, and the nominal home planet that anchors it in place, are home to a race of beings of literal light known as the Phosphorians. And it is the members of this race which allied themselves with Tamaran in the conflict against Nightfire and the Umbrosians. And at first, things seemed evenly matched. But there was still one severe problem."

"What was that?" Cyborg asked.

"Much like the Umbrosians wished to spread the darkness of their galaxy throughout the entirety of the universe," Galfore explained, "the Phosphorians were also fanatics who wished to eradicate all darkness in the universe, including the safe kind that is needed for sleep." He nodded his head. "Needless to say, under such circumstances, an outright victory on either side would have resulted in a terrible upset of balance across the universe."

The Titans all thought to themselves over this sobering information.

"But K'norfka," said Starfire. "The universe is still in balance. How were the Tamaraneans able to resolve this dilemma?"

Galfore sighed. "The answer to that question is something I'm afraid very few, if any, Tamaraneans know for certain. From what we are aware of, there were other pages to this tale that have since been lost over the course of history. All I can give you, however, is the best that our people have been able to determine from what remains."

He lifted his head. "To the best of our knowledge nowadays, it is believed that at a climactic moment where the two brothers were openly dueling with each other at the same time that the Umbrosians were still battling furiously against the combined might of the Tamaraneans and Phosphorians, a great eclipse came upon the battlefield. And with the arrival of that eclipse, a truly miraculous turn of events is reported to have occurred."

The Titans were all curious. "What is this miracle?" Starfire asked.

"Reportedly," said Galfore. "With both light and darkness in such blatantly equal balance, both the Umbrosians and the Phosphorians became incredibly weak and drained of their power. So drained in fact, that they willingly teleported themselves back to their respective homes so as to avoid dying from their loss of power. And in the process, they sacrificed the freedom that they'd gained from allying themselves with the two brothers and would now once again be kept sealed within their respective realms and nominal home planets until such a time as they were once again approached to serve as allies against each other."

The non-Tamaranean titans whistled. "Wow," said Beast Boy. "I always thought that eclipses looked pretty cool. But sheesh, I never thought an eclipse could be _that_ powerful."

"You said it," Cyborg agreed.

"Indeed," said Starfire. She looked back at Galfore. "But what of the two brothers? What happened to them after the Umbrosians and Phosphorians departed?"

"Sadly," Galfore responded. "This story did not end happily for them." He shook his head side to side. "With the Umbrosians having now abandoned him, Nightfire was swiftly apprehended and taken into the custody of his people. And despite being given a fair trial and a chance to redeem himself, Nightfire refused to let go of his pride and hatred, outright denied feeling any regret for his actions, and insisted that he would still someday take the throne for himself one way or another. And in the end, with a heavy heart, Dayfire was forced to sentence his brother to death."

Starfire hung her head upon hearing this. The other titans similarly turned very somber. Beast Boy even gulped, his ears drooping in the process. "That's . . . definitely saddening," the changeling said aloud.

Galfore nodded in agreement. "After Nightfire's execution, Dayfire only remained reigning emperor for another few weeks after the war before he eventually abdicated the throne, naming his younger sister Dawnfire as heir and empress in his place. And for many years since, Tamaran has lived peacefully, albeit with occasional wars and minor tense confrontations with the Gordanians, neutral interactions with the Thanagarians, and occasional interactions with other races such as those of Dranthax IV, Okaara, and even occasionally Krypton before its destruction."

He lifted his head. "But now, after X'Hal knows how many years, Blackfire appears to have finally reached the point that she's willing to follow in Nightfire's footsteps and ally herself with the Umbrosians." He nodded his head. "And with all this information having finally reached Tamaran as of three days ago, it is of the utmost importance that your sister's current actions are put to a stop as soon as possible. However, in light of just how much more personal this conflict could be on your end after past history with Blackfire, I believed it would only be right to allow you the chance to resolve this conflict alongside us. And that is why I have now come today to ask you and your friends to come with us to find your sister and put a stop to her and the Umbrosians' plans."

The Titans all thought to themselves upon hearing the last of Galfore's explanation. Then, as one, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven turned their heads to look at Starfire. For what seemed like an eternity, Starfire remained absolutely silent under the gaze of her friends and former caretaker. Then she took a deep breath, exhaled, and gazed straight into Galfore's eyes.

"Worry not K'norfka," said Starfire, her voice and face stern and resolute; albeit, through what seemed more like resignation then anything else. "My friends and I will be more than honored to join you." She turned her head to face her friends. "If that is acceptable?"

Her four friends nodded their heads in agreement. "I can get things set up so that Jump City won't be defenseless," said Robin. "It may have only been just a week since everyone else was here with us, but I'm sure at least some group or other amongst the ancillary divisions will be able to drop by to cover for us while we're gone."

The other three Titans were also quick to voice their assent.

"Count me in," said Cyborg. "It's been a long while since we've used the T-Ship and I could certainly use the opportunity to give her a chance to get put to good use."

"I've already been used as a tool for one dark force with galaxy conquering desires," said Raven. "I'm certainly not going to just stand by and roll over in submission to another."

"Ready's my middle name," Beast Boy stated cheekily, ramming his right fist into his left palm. "Point the way your highness. I'm ready to kick some alien butt."

Starfire, seemingly ignoring Beast Boy's choice of words, looked back at Galfore. "We shall be ready within the near future. And we will also follow you in our own personal ship to avoid potential inconvenience for you and the others on board your vessel."

"I have no doubt about that Koriand'r," Galfore responded. He nodded his head. "I shall return to my ship and inform the others on board that we'll be leaving within the hour. Do not keep us waiting past that time."

"We won't," said Robin. He then bowed respectfully. "Your excellency." He turned to face Starfire and the other Titans. "You heard him," said Robin. "Let's get a move on."

 **And just like that, the chapter's over. Here's me hoping that you enjoyed what was offered! I especially hope you liked the entirety of the titular 'legend' in this chapter. That being said, I am well aware that something like this probably didn't happen in the actual comics. But for those who might complain about that, I'm sorry, but as much as I am willing to incorporate elements of the comics (not to mention of DCAU cartoons), I am not going to be an extreme purist. I mean hey, I'm already including a completely original (as far as I'm aware) race of beings called the Umbrosians. And besides, there are plenty of people with official DC-based productions that have been plenty inventive themselves (to varying degrees of success *glares witheringly at Zack Snyder*). All that said, again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of reviews (remember, A: NO FLAMES! and B: I require a minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before the next chapter I complete (and get Bearhow approval from) gets published). Get that? Got that? Good. Again, enjoy!**

 **Coming up next: The Titans and Tamaraneans have departed from Earth and are on their way towards the Vegan System (I'm dead serious, the solar system Tamaran is from is actually called that). However, with the initial uneventful nature of the trip, there is just enough time for Starfire to finally allow her friends to hear the full story (more or less) regarding her past from before the fateful night she landed in Jump City in 'Go!'. Sound like fun? I certainly hope so!**


	4. A Voyage Down Memory Lane

**Hi everybody! Hope you're all ready for yet more awesomeness, because here's a brand new chapter! Boy I sure seem to be on a roll with these new chapters, don't I? In this new chapter, the Titans and Tamaranean royal entourage are on their way over to the Vegan System to deal with the Umbrosians' latest plan. But before any major action unfolds, there is just enough time for Starfire to finally tell her Titan friends the full story of her time before her fateful arrival in 'Go!'. Sound amazing? I damn well hope so! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, again, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based. Believe me, if I owned DC, there is SO MUCH that would be changed for the better around there. And I'd best stop there before I devolve into a ranting lunatic. All that said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **A Voyage Down Memory Lane**

Several hours later, both Galfore's personal royal starship and the T-Ship had long departed from Earth and were now pleasantly cruising along through the vastness of outer space. And while they glided along a respectable distance behind the Tamaranean ship, Starfire couldn't help but wistfully stare at her former caretaker's ship with her chin on her left palm.

Robin, however, kept directing his gaze towards Starfire's compartment every now and then, clearly concerned. As proud as he was of Starfire for being willing to do what she appeared to believe was the right thing to do and concerned about the situation they were on the way to attempting to resolve, he couldn't help but also feel worried about his girlfriend. After all, as he knew all too well, any moments in which she appeared to be in as gloomy of a mood as she currently appeared to be in were never to be taken lightly.

Neither Starfire's continued apparent gloomy mood, nor Robin's continued scrutiny of her, escaped the attention of the other Titans. Beast Boy and Raven, as it so happened, even found themselves both on the verge of trying to talk to Starfire and ask her if she was ok. But they both noticed each other about to try to speak, and paused to allow each other the opportunity to speak first. This unwittingly resulted in an awkward pause.

Robin finally decided to break the awkward silence for both the sake of Beast Boy and Raven as well as to prevent Cyborg from potentially forgetting the seriousness of their current circumstances and making a joke at the two chromatically challenged titans' expense. "Um, Star?" he asked.

Starfire jolted in surprise with wide eyes, and then directed a relatively calm, yet still half gloomy, look towards Robin. The other titans similarly focused their gazes appropriately.

"Forgive me if I'm intruding," said the Boy Wonder. "But, is everything ok?"

Starfire paused, clearly trying to think of just how to respond, and then hung her head.

"Try not to take this the wrong way," said Robin. "If you really don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to. And I won't make you talk if you don't wish to. But with the mood you appear to be in right now, I honestly would like to be absolutely certain that you're alright."

"What he said," Beast Boy and Raven stated in unison, only to promptly wince at the fact.

"Yeah Star," said Cyborg. "Trust us. If you're feeling bad right now about anything, telling others about it usually helps more often then it doesn't. I'd certainly know, considering how much better you felt after you told me and the others about how Val-Yor was treating you two years ago."

Robin nodded in agreement with Cyborg, his gaze still focused on Starfire. Beast Boy and Raven likewise showed their agreement and otherwise kept their focus on Starfire.

After several minutes of silence, Starfire sighed, and hung her head. "Is it that obvious?"

"No offense," Beast Boy began, "but you're Starfire. Subtlety isn't really your style."

Robin narrowed his eyes, but Starfire thought to herself. "I suppose you are right," she admitted. She hung her head once more, and took a deep breath. "If you really want to know."

"Well again," said Robin. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but if you think it's ok to talk to us about whatever's going on, then we won't stop you from talking about whatever's bothering you either."

"Well worry not," said Starfire. She sighed. "For I am indeed willing now to tell you about what is bothering me." She took another deep breath. "And considering just how long it's been since the time we dealt with Blackfire on Tamaran and how well aware I am of the dangers of keeping things stuffed in bottles inside you, I am surprised that I never talked about this before; and that you never asked me about it."

"Well sometimes it's understandable to be reluctant to talk about certain things, even for the most outgoing and open of people," said Robin.

"I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't get curious about your past," said Beast Boy. "I mean, for one, I'm naturally curious about _all_ of our pasts. But hey, considering how I've still been keeping myself so guarded about my own, I thought it would be a little counterintuitive of me to try to dig too deeply into anyone else's."

Raven nodded her head. "Like he said, we were curious, but we figured it just wasn't our place to ask you to talk about it. And besides, you and the others mostly respected my wishes to stay silent about my own past until the year before last year, so we all figured we might as well give each other, you included, the same courtesy."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "And besides, considering how naturally open you tend to be, we figured that you'd just eventually tell us about it. So we didn't feel any need to rush you."

Starfire let out a brief chuckle. "And for that, I am glad." Then she took a deep breath yet again. "But yes, now, I indeed feel willing. Especially if you think it could help me feel better in the current circumstances."

"Like we said," said Robin. He nodded his head. "If you're willing and ready, then so are we." The other titans similarly admitted their agreement to this statement.

"If you say so," said Starfire. She lifted her head, mentally preparing herself for the story she was about to give to her friends about herself. "As you may recall, when we first met each other, I informed you of how my name is Starfire when translated in the English language of Earth. In the original native tongue of Tamaran, my name is Koriand'r." She hung her head. "Blackfire, my older sister, translates to Komand'r in Tamaranean. And our younger brother. . ."

At this point, Starfire noticeably paused, her green eyes briefly turning dull and misty from long bottled up sadness. "Is named Ryand'r, which translates in English as 'Wildfire'."

She steeled herself up, eager to avoid breaking down crying when she'd barely even begun her story. "Our parents were Emperor Myand'r and Empress Luand'r. As the rulers of Tamaran, they were often very busy, and left us in the care of our K'norfka, Galfore. But on the rare moments in which they did personally care for us, it was truly a great treasure." She hung her head. "And it was also not necessary for a genius's presence to tell which of us was the apparent favorite amongst us in their eyes."

"Growing up," Starfire continued, "I was quite the 'spoiled' as the people of Earth would say when it comes to how my parents treated me. Now, they did also love Wildfire a similarly large amount on account of how he was their only son and a lot like myself. But whenever they got the chance, our parents did everything in their power to ensure that I was kept aware of how much they loved me. For with few exceptions, they gave me everything; and I do mean everything. They even named me heir to the throne.

"The cost of this, however, was that Blackfire often continuously got the stick's short end." She shook her head side to side with her eyes closed. "And as you may have guessed, she hardly had, what one might call, the life of ease. For as far as personality goes, she was proud, arrogant, self-centered, and difficult to get to know. Even Galfore, patient as he was and hard as he tried, had difficulty working with her and appeared to enjoy working with me and Wildfire more than he enjoyed dealing with her.

"And her personality wasn't the only thing that worked against her," Starfire continued. "You may have noticed during our visit to Tamaran three years ago, how a considerable number of my people had the same hair and eye color as myself?

"Well as common as these traits are amongst the entirety of our people," Starfire continued, "they were points of considerable genetic pride amongst the royal family. And so, the people were understandably taken off the guard and uncertain what to think when Blackfire turned out to have the less common traits of black hair and purple eyes."

She sighed. "These traits, combined with her difficult personality, naturally brought more than a little perceived hardship upon her in her life; and that hardship only got worse and more abundant for her when our brother and I were born. But it was my getting named the heir to the throne that proved to be the bale of hay that broke the humped one's back."

She shuddered. "I'm not sure if I'd ever before seen her anywhere close to as angry as she was that day. I wanted more than anything to try to comfort her and reassure her that things would be alright. I truly did. But I was kept so busy with tasks that I ended up having to do as part of preparations for my future reign, and so many of our people, particularly Wildfire and Galfore, were so proud and excited for me that I felt like I would break their hearts if I weren't to go along with what they wished."

She opened her eyes. "The fact that I ended up becoming betrothed a few weeks after my being named as the heir certainly didn't help matters either."

"You were betrothed?!" Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all yelled at once. Raven, while much quieter then the three boys, widened her own eyes in surprise.

"Yes," said Starfire. "I was. This was one of the few times my parents chose to stick as close to tradition as possible rather then go out of their way to ensure I'd get whatever was the first thing I believed I wanted. The groom that was ultimately chosen for me was Prince Karras of the southern states of Tamaran. And not only was he a prince, but he was also a high-ranking soldier in the Tamaranean military. And both his parents and mine thought we'd be an ideal match as rulers and lovers."

"How. Nice. Of them," Robin grumbled, his fists clenched.

Starfire continued, unaware of Robin's tight voice. "About three weeks before the wedding was to occur, Gordania declared war on Tamaran." She paused. "With war against the Gordanians now on the horizon, both my wedding to Karras and the coronation that was to follow, were pushed back to occur after the war was over, and eventually done away with altogether after . . . further developments."

Robin found himself guiltily mentally cheering with joy upon hearing the news about the fate of Starfire's prior engagement from before coming to Earth. He managed to steel himself into stopping. "What happened after that?"

"Well when the war began," Starfire responded. "Needless to say, everything was the changed. Everything was chaos and destruction, my sister and I very narrowly avoided potential drafting on account of our being princesses, and the fact that Wildfire had somehow mysteriously vanished from Tamaran several days before the fighting began didn't help matters either.

"For many months, the war continued raging," Starfire continued. "After a while, I was quite convinced that it would still be going on the day my 13th birthday was to be celebrated. But one day, around two months, maybe three, before my 13th birthday, the most unexpected thing occurred. That morning, the Gordanian leader Trogaar and his most trusted generals came to the palace under a flag of truce, requesting a meeting with my parents."

Starfire paused again. After about five whole minutes passed, the other Titans became quite confused. The instant they saw the look on Starfire's face, however, their curiosity became largely replaced with concern as to their friend's wellbeing. For at that very moment, the Tamaranean princess had her eyes shut tight and was visibly struggling to keep herself from breaking down into a sobbing wreck.

. . . . .

(Tamaran, Five Years Prior)

Starfire couldn't help but feel confused, yet hopeful, as she lounged on the supremely comfortable bed in her personal bedchamber. She had to admit, it was quite a miracle that the Gordanians, who for so many months now had been warring furiously against her people, were now apparently calling a truce. And the fact that they'd reached this point left her feeling quite hopeful indeed about how the war could soon come to a relatively peaceful end. But at the same time, with how much time had passed since the requested meeting between her parents and the Gordanian truce party had begun, the 12-year old Tamaranean princess couldn't help but worry about the potential for things not ending quite as well as she was currently hoping.

She sighed, placed her chin on her right palm, and drummed her left fingers across the surface of her bed. At times like this, she found herself wishing she were both old enough and sufficiently trained to be allowed to take part in meetings of such caliber as the one her parents were now involved in right that very moment. That way, she wouldn't have to be waiting bored in her bedchamber while the fate of her home was potentially decided upon in dramatic fashion.

She directed a glance at the closed doors to her bedchamber, sighed again, and then looked at the entrance to the balcony opposite the entrance. " **I wish Wildfire were here** ," she thought to herself. " **He always knew how to spin some form of entertainment out of a boring situation like this**." She lowered her head so that it was resting on both of her palms. " **At this rate** , **I'd even except Blackfire's company. Even her company would allow for at least some form of entertainment to break the monotony of this boring wait. Or maybe even Karras for that matter.** " She sighed in boredom, rolled over onto her back, and stared blankly at the ceiling. " **By X'hal** , **why must this truce meeting take so long?** "

The sound of footsteps came from outside her bedroom door, and Starfire's eyes widened. She sat up on her bed, turning her head to face the door. " **What's going on?** " she thought to herself. " **Are the truce talks over? Is that my parents coming? Galfore? The Gordanians? What's going on?** "

The footsteps finally came to a stop right behind the entrance to her bedchamber, and the doors opened. The young princess's eyes widened, and she smiled in joy at the sight of her parents standing at the door with Galfore right behind them.

She jumped off her bed and flew right to them. " **Mother!** " she yelled. " **Father! K'norfka! You have finished! What's happening? Is the war over? Are we safe now? Will the Gordanians be leaving?** "

But then she landed, lifted her face to look at them in the eyes, and her happy smile slowly faded as she finally got a good look at their faces. " **Mother?** " she asked worriedly. " **Father? You look so worried. Is something wrong? Did the truce talks fail?** " She briefly felt fear at this thought, for while she had dressed herself in battle appropriate clothing earlier that morning, she was understandably wary of it needing to prove necessary so alarmingly soon after an attempt at achieving peace.

Her father, Emperor Myand'r, sighed, and rubbed his hand wistfully through his curly dark red brown hair, his once proud and equally bushy mustache and beard now seeming to droop under the weight of the gray streaks that had developed. " **No my little princess,** " he managed to say, though with clear effort to avoid stammering. " **They did not fail. We have managed to agree to a ceasefire. The Gordanians will depart from Tamaran. All of them. And we have their word on good faith that they will leave our planet and people alone forever more from here on out.** "

Starfire's eyes widened. " **You mean?** "

" **Yes,** " Myand'r responded. " **The war is over.** "

" **That's wonderful news,** " Starfire responded. Then she raised her eyebrow, her concern and worry still showing. " **But, you, and mother, and K'norfka. . . you all look so sad. Why?** "

" **Because Starfire,** " her mother, Empress Luand'r responded, her green eyes so misty with unshed tears that they seemed to turn the exact same shade of gray as the streaks in her long bright reddish orange hair. " **This end has come at a terrible, terrible,** ** _terrible_** **cost.** "

Starfire's heart leapt up into her mouth, and she gulped. " **What do you mean?** " she managed to ask. " **What happened?** "

" **We didn't want to,** " Luand'r whimpered, sniffling and fighting to keep herself from crying. " **By X'hal we didn't want to.** "

" **But the choice was no longer truly ours to make,** " said Myand'r. He took a deep breath, and shakily exhaled. " **In fact, it was taken from and made for us just the previous night without our even knowing.** " He lifted his head up, mouth tensed shut as if to keep himself from crying. " **All we could do,** " he then said. " **Was to give it our reluctant blessing. It was . . . it was the only way left.** "

Starfire found herself feeling increasingly more nervous. " **Father? What are you talking about? What's going on?** "

Her father got down on one knee, placing his hand on her right shoulder. " **I wish we had more time,** " he stammered. " **I wish . . . I wish that we'd spent the last few months continuing to treat you exactly the way we did before this war . . . before your announcement day as heir even.** "

Starfire gazed fearfully at her father, gongs going off in her mind in alarm. " **Father, you're scaring me,** " she managed to say. " **What's happening?** "

Her mother came forward, her father stepping back. Luand'r stared at Starfire for a few seconds, and then gave her a hug while laying her head on her daughter's shoulder. " **If there had been any other way, we would have not hesitated to take it.** " She lifted her head, her eyes now even more on the verge of tears. " **I know that your father and I didn't show it anywhere near as often as Galfore; but know this, your father and I do love you, Koriand'r.** "

Luand'r sniffled, stepped away from her daughter, and turned her head to face Galfore. " **Galfore** ," she then said. " **It is your turn. Please, do make it quick.** "

The heavyset Tamaranean man stepped forward. In that instant, Starfire took one look at her beloved K'norfka's face, and felt her heart sink further. In all her life, she had never seen him looking more on the verge of outright crying as he now appeared to be at that moment.

" **K'norfka?** " Starfire asked.

Galfore took a deep breath, clearly steeling himself up. Then he placed his arms around the young princess, gently lifted her up, and gave her a tender hug. " **Forgive me little one; for I have failed you.** "

Starfire's eyes widened. " **K'norfka! What are you saying? You could never fail me! Never!** "

" **But I have.** " Galfore shook his head side to side, his eyes closed in clear regret. " **Koriand'r,** " he then stated. " **Listen carefully; and by X'hal, please do not interrupt. I do not have much time, and you need to hear what I am now going to tell you.** " He lowered her back down to the floor, making sure she'd still be gazing straight into his eyes. " **I may not be the one who sired you,** " he began. " **But after all I've done for you and your siblings, I might as well be your real father. And for all that, regardless of what happens after today, promise you'll never forget me. No matter what.** "

" **I could never forget you K'norfka,** " said Starfire. " **By X'hal, I'd never forget you. Never.** "

" **Good. Now secondly, regardless of whatever unfolds after today, you must never allow yourself to give up on your ability to feel joy. No matter what happens little one, never give up on your ability to feel joy. Even in the darkest of times, whatever joy you can feel, regardless of how small, you must grab onto it, hold on tight, and never let it go.** " He hung his head briefly, sniffling in the process. " **X'hal knows you're going to need it.** "

" **Finally,** " said Galfore, now _really_ struggling to keep it together. " **If you ever come across Wildfire. . .** " He winced, then seemed to gasp for breath. " **Tell him, Starfire. . . tell him I'm sorry.** "

" **Galfore,** " said Starfire. " **What are you talking about? What are you saying sorry for?** "

Galfore hung his head, visibly quivering. " **Goodbye Starfire.** "

" **It is time.** "

The four Tamaraneans jolted in surprise, and they all looked towards the direction this new voice had come from. Much to Starfire's shocked horror, a trio of Gordanians that Starfire recognized as the truce party were standing right there.

Trying her best to put on a brave face, Starfire pointed her finger at them. " **What are you doing here?** " She looked at her parents. " **Mother? Father? What are they doing here?** "

" **Claiming what is ours,** " growled the large Gordanian in the center, whom Starfire now remembered to be named Trogaar.

He signaled to his two generals, who nodded, and with a clash, followed by a swing, of their staves, Starfire was knocked in the back and sent flying away from Galfore and her parents and landed flat on her face at Trogaar's scaly feet. She lifted her head in time for Trogaar to bend on one knee and glare down at her.

" **You've been sold,** " Trogaar hissed. " **You are our property now. Our slave.** " A smug grin came on his face. " **Turns out, you are not nearly as beloved as you thought. Apparently, there was one who appears to have hated you enough to meet up with us last night and sell you to us in exchange for our ceasing this war and leaving your precious planet.** "

For what seemed like forever in Starfire's eyes, the young princess gaped at the imposing Gordanian leader in disbelief. " **No,** " she managed to say. " **No. I don't believe that! I can't believe that! I won't!** "

Trogaar chuckled. " **You'd better believe it, your majesty,** " he stated mockingly. " **Because it is the truth.** " He gestured at the area around him, as well as Starfire's still very saddened parents, and the enraged Galfore. " **You'd better memorize all this, princess,** " he then hissed. " **Not to mention better hope you've said all your goodbyes. Because from here on out, you will never see any of this again. EVER!** "

At a deceptively fast speed, Trogaar straightened back up to full height and turned his back to the still stunned and disbelieving princess. He directed a backwards side glance towards his two generals. " **Garzvohg! Yarboth!** " The two generals directed their full attention towards their leader, who pointed at Starfire. " **Seize her.** " He started walking away. " **Make sure she's brought directly to the ship! And put her with the rest of the prime fighting stock we've gathered to be sold to the Citadel! She'll make a perfect additional fighter to sell once we leave this ridiculous planet!** "

" **With pleasure,** " the two generals hissed in unison.

They each grabbed Starfire by a wrist and yanked her up to her feet. She had just enough time to shriek in surprise before she then felt and saw them affix a pair of specially designed cuffs to her hands that both bound and covered them, so she couldn't use her star bolts.

Her eyes widened in horror. " **No,** " she whimpered.

Then she was suddenly yanked forward, her feet dragging on the floor as the Gordanian generals pulled her away from her family and in the direction that would no doubt lead to their main ship. She kicked and writhed in her captors' tight grip as she struggled to free herself from them, shrieking and howling in rage and despair.

About halfway down the hallway, she heard the sound of Galfore and her parents adding their own voices into the mix. Evidently, he'd lost his nerve and wanted to stop her from being taken away. " **Let go of me!** " he roared. " **You can't let them take her away like this!** "

" **We have to Galfore!** " Myand'r yelled. " **It's the only way!** "

" **Like Dahak it's the only way!** " Galfore growled. He surged forward, Myand'r and Luand'r just barely keeping their grips on him intact and holding him back.

Trogaar heard this, and his eyes widened when he turned his head. " **Hurry up you fools!** " he shouted. " **We can't let that brute catch up with us!** "

" **Yes my lord,** " the generals grunted as they subsequently increased their pace, Starfire shrieking in surprise at the sudden burst of speed in which she was dragged.

" **I'll show you a brute!** " Galfore bellowed, struggling further against his sovereign rulers' grips. " **Let me at them! I won't let them take Koriand'r! I** ** _won't_** **!** "

" **You must!** " Luand'r whimpered, tears pouring from her eyes even as she worked desperately alongside her husband to hold the half angry and half despairing Tamaranean giant back from charging madly down the hall. " **For the sake of all our people, you must!** "

" **Move it you idiots!** " Trogaar snapped, now a considerable distance away from his generals and brand-new slave. " **Move it!** "

" **No!** " Galfore roared. With a single mighty leap, he broke free from Myand'r and Luand'r's grasp. But he'd only made it about five steps down the hall before multiple guards seemed to materialize from thin air and leap upon him in an effort to tackle him. For several minutes, Galfore continued to struggle and attempt to bull his way down the hall despite the multiple guards entering the fray and trying everything they could to bring him down.

In the end, it took 17 guards, plus Myand'r and Luand'r, tackling him all at once for him to be brought down hard upon the floor and pinned there while the Gordanians got closer and closer to exiting the hall with the still screaming and kicking Starfire in tow. And even despite this, he continued to try to struggle out from under them.

" **Get off of me you fools!** " Galfore yelled. " **Doomsday device or no doomsday device, this isn't right!** "

" **We have to Galfore!** " Myand'r bellowed, nearly in tears himself at this point. " **Do you really think we'd be doing this right now if there were any other way!?** "

" **Mother!** " Starfire yelled. " **Father! Galfore! Please! Stop them! Don't let them take me!** "

" **Starfire!** " Galfore shouted. " **Starfire! No!** "

" **Galfore!** " Starfire screamed, her eyes nearly in tears as her Gordanian handlers pulled her further and further away from her beloved K'norfka. " **Help me! Somebody please! Help me!** "

" **STARFIRE!** "

. . . . .

(Present Day)

Starfire sniffled, tears streaming down her face as she remembered that terrible day she'd been forcibly taken from Tamaran. "I had never felt more simultaneously saddened, angry, and panicked then I did that day as I was dragged out of the palace and placed aboard the main ship of the Gordanian fleet."

She hung her head. "I remember fighting and putting up a fuss every step of the way that I was dragged by my captors. Even when I'd already been successfully brought onto the ship and was being carried through the hallways towards where they kept the 'fighting stock' they'd gathered, I continued struggling against them."

She took a deep breath. "I still don't know for certain how much time passed in which I was locked away in that ship. But what I do know is that the ship was passing by Earth's vicinity when I finally smashed against the door enough to bust it down. From that point, I was able to break out of the ship, fly to Earth, and the rest, as your kind would say, is the history."

"Star," Robin said, sadness clear in his tone from the weight of what his girlfriend had just confessed.

"Oh, God," said Cyborg.

"Dude," said Beast Boy. "I still can't believe you were sold to those things."

Raven nodded her head solemnly, still slightly in disbelief herself. While she had been somewhat aware of bits and pieces of Starfire's history thanks to the exchange of information she and Starfire had made during their first encounter with the Puppet King, only now was she aware of the things that Starfire had chosen to keep hidden over the course of that discussion.

Now that she thought about it, she now had a strong suspicion of just who had sold Starfire to the Gordanians. This suspicion was strengthened considerably by the fact that Blackfire had been rather conveniently absent at the time that Starfire's parents and Galfore had come to say their goodbyes. Not to mention the timing of all these events seemed to add up disturbingly well to the timing of Blackfire's first visit to Earth.

But at the same time, thanks to her empathic reading on Starfire's emotions, Raven now decided it was best for her to keep silent on her misgivings for now. For as she could tell from reading the Tamaranean's emotions, Starfire, while aware of how much Blackfire hated her now, didn't want at all to believe that her older sister had hated her _that_ much even back then, let alone enough to coldly sell her to the Gordanians in exchange for peace between Tamaran and Gordania.

"To this day," Starfire continued, "I still do not know who was responsible for selling me to the Gordanians. The Gordanians themselves never found it necessary to tell me while I was their prisoner. While I was willing to ask Galfore about it during our visit to Tamaran 3 years ago, his asking if I truly wanted to know was enough for me to know that he still found the subject too painful to talk about. And so I chose to respect his wishes to not discuss it."

Raven, however, now had another thought on her mind. "Starfire?" she asked. "Forgive me if you find this more uncomfortable then what you've already told us. But in light of how Blackfire was empress when we first arrived on Tamaran during that visit, combined with our never meeting your parents that time, I'm assuming something bad must have happened to them while you were gone from Tamaran."

For several minutes there was dead silence between the titans. Starfire finally spoke just as the other Titans, Raven included, were starting to wonder if perhaps maybe they'd now gone a little too far in their curiosity.

"I suppose I should have suspected something along those lines when I received the message to come home from that year from a simple messenger rather than my parents themselves."

She took a deep breath. "But at that time, I suppose I felt so happy about visiting my birth planet after two years of being separated from there and curious about who my apparent groom to be at the time was that I chose not to dwell on that issue."

She hung her head. "It wasn't until I had a talk with Galfore while in my old bedchamber preparing for the wedding that I mustered up the courage to ask him what had happened to my parents." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked. "Did Blackfire kill them?"

"Beast Boy," Robin growled.

"No friend," Starfire responded. "She did not." She sighed. "Though what did happen to them was not necessarily any the better."

She lifted her head. "As Galfore was able to put it after some hesitation, in the time that immediately followed my departure from Tamaran, my parents hit the bottom of the rock. They were beside themselves with grief over my loss to the Gordanians. And not only that, but they were also similarly in grief over how Blackfire had apparently departed from Tamaran not too long after my own departure, as well as over Wildfire's disappearance from before the fighting began."

"But wouldn't they have hoped that he could still return?" Raven asked.

"Not in their minds," Starfire responded. "In their grief, they assumed that he had been killed by the Gordanians." She hung her head once more, sniffling in the process. "And to make matters worse, they shut themselves away in their bedchambers, and stationed guards outside the doors to discourage all visitors. Not even Galfore was allowed inside to see them while they grieved." She sniffled again. "Unfortunately, this also extended to all the servants, and even the ones responsible for feeding and providing water. And in the end. . ." She whimpered, clearly on the verge of tears. "Just a couple months or so after mine and Blackfire's departure from Tamaran, their grief . . . killed them."

She started crying again, but in a comparatively restrained way compared to earlier in her story. "On rare occasions," she managed to sputter out, "I think about the last time I ever saw them, and feel all too well the pain of how, just that one moment, I had the chance to at least give them a proper goodbye. But that I was too confused and frightened at the time, and in the end . . . I . . . exploded it."

In that instant, Starfire completely lost it. Her arms slammed on the dashboard of her compartment, her head slammed upon her arms, and she broke down weeping. The other Titans remained silent in their seats, saddened and wishing to comfort Starfire, but too uncertain on what to do or say.

Cyborg nodded his head, a tear coming out of his human eye. Raven closed her eyes, hung her head, and sighed. Beast Boy, his ears drooped, stared helplessly at Starfire. Robin also stared helplessly at his girlfriend, wanting more than anything to hug her and comfort her.

Eventually, Starfire finished crying, lifted her head, and wiped the remainder of her tears. "I apologize for that friends." She gazed back into the space outside her window. "All that said, there was another thing Galfore ended up telling me after he gave me the news about my parents."

"What was that?" Beast Boy asked.

"It turns out," said Starfire. "Galfore had known where Wildfire was during the war, and had in fact sent him away from Tamaran before the fighting even began."

The other titans' eyes widened upon hearing this.

"He sent Wildfire away," Starfire responded. She nodded her head. "You see, as he explained to me, in the event that anything were to have happened to me and Blackfire over the course of the war, Wildfire would have been the only one remaining to serve as heir to the throne. He was also not entirely skilled at combat compared to Blackfire, myself, and the warriors of Tamaran's army. And so, for his own safety, he had Wildfire sent to an out of the way back of the water planet that the Gordanians would not have had any interest in exploring, with the plan to call him back when the time was right. And, again for Wildfire's own safety, Galfore took great care to make sure that only he knew of exactly where Wildfire was."

"Well then why didn't he tell your parents about that after you were taken?" Beast Boy asked.

"Beast Boy, use your head," said Raven. "Her parents had placed guards at the entrance to their bedchamber under orders to turn away any and all visitors while they were grieving, remember?"

"You are correct friend," said Starfire. "Galfore explained to me when I asked him the same question as friend Beast Boy, he wanted to tell them. He really truly did. But every time he tried, the guards turned him away. And as a result, he never got the chance. And to make matters worse, several weeks after he'd finished grieving the deaths of my parents alongside the rest of Tamaran, he secretly visited the planet he'd placed Wildfire, only to find that, at some point in the interim, Wildfire had already departed." She sighed. "And to this day, he _still_ hasn't figured out where he is."

"I'm sure I would have loved to meet him," Robin said solemnly.

"You would have," said Starfire, a half-saddened smile on her face. "You all would have loved to meet him."

"I can imagine," said Beast Boy. He nodded his head. "There is one question I'd still like to ask right now though."

"What is it friend?"

"This Citadel place," the changeling responded. "I remember you mentioned it to us the night you first arrived in Jump City after escaping the Gordanians. Specifically, you described it as 'not nice' when we asked you who they were. But, after hearing about it again in your story just now, I can't help but wonder just how bad this Citadel place is."

Starfire shuddered, and shook her head side to side. "Like I said," she began. "Not nice." She looked warily towards the star filled sky outside her compartment. "This race of beings were once the supreme rulers of a vast tyrannical empire that once expanded across at least 22 planets from the same star system as Tamaran. While Tamaran was thankfully not amongst those planets, we always lived under the fear of that fate someday coming upon us. And what's worse, due to the terms of a treaty that was made between their empire's founders and the Guardians of the Universe, the entirety of the Citadel Empire, including Tamaran's solar system, was locked out of the judicial range of the Green Lanterns. And the fact that the Guardians and early members of the Corp were apparently so willing to just allow the Citadel to do as they please without fear of punishment has made my people feel grudgingly respectful at best towards the lanterns and outright hateful of them at worst. However, over the course of several wars and uprisings against them, the Citadel have largely lost a vast amount of the land and influence they used to hold." She looked back towards her friends. "Nowadays, they've mostly been driven off back to the system they used to be confined to before the expansion of their empire. And on their home planet, they've set up a vast arena where they hold intergalactic gladiator matches. And from what the Gordanians said while I was under their custody, I was to be sold alongside a considerable number of other combat capable beings, robots, and animals to serve as one of the latest fighters in that very arena."

"And they get away with it?" Robin asked, disgust clear in his voice.

"Sadly yes," Starfire responded. "For as much as their empire has diminished, their treaty with the Guardians still stands. And under that treaty's terms, any intervention against the Citadel within the borders of their Empire would violate the treaty and incite the Citadel to declare war on the entirety of the sectors under the Corps' protection."

Robin and the other boys sighed grudgingly, and Raven nodded her head in resignation at the injustice of it all.

"But never mind that," said Starfire, clearly working to prop herself back up to her usual happiness. "What matters now is that I wasn't sold to the Citadel and that I am now instead a happy member of the Titans of the people of Earth."

"And we couldn't be happier for it," Robin agreed.

"Yeah, and I'll bet bird boy's especially glad that your prior engagement to that Karras dude is almost certainly no more, considering you're now dating him, not to mention the whole 'almost wedding' business three years ago."

At the sound of this, Robin glowered witheringly at Cyborg.

Starfire found herself giggling. "Also, very true," she managed to say.

Beast Boy chuckled, Raven rolled her eyes, and Robin slammed his face on his compartment's dash board in embarrassment.

All of a sudden, Starfire's gems started blinking, and her green eyes widened. The other titans' own eyes widened as well upon sight of this. Starfire hurriedly drew out her communicator and answered the apparent call. "What's happening?" she asked

"Princess Starfire," shouted the voice of the Tamaranean captain of the guard. "You and your friends must join up with us immediately! We need your help!"

"From what?!" Starfire asked.

"Um Star?"

Starfire turned her head towards Robin, who was pointing his finger toward the area far in front of the T-Ship. "I think I can see your answer to that question."

Starfire and the other Titans looked ahead, and their eyes widened at the sight they found.

The huge royal Tamaranean ship had come to a stop, and was under attack. And as if that weren't enough, the assailants seemed particularly unnerving and out of place. Flying around the Tamaranean ship were a bunch of blimp sized spaceships that seemed to resemble ominous, slightly zigzag shaped black clouds, with two glowing red 'eyes' on the fronts that were firing resplendent red lasers.

But these ships weren't the only assailants. There was also what appeared to be a swarm of what looked like black cloaks made of shadows squirming all over various areas of the giant Tamaranean ship. And as the titans watched, some of these living shadow cloaks raised their 'hands' and sent torrents of what looked like shadowy flame blazing towards whatever their hands were aiming towards.

Starfire fought off her sense of awe and horror at this sight and spoke back into her communicator. "Captain," she said. "These assailants. Are they . . .?"

"Yes," said the captain. "These are indeed the Umbrosians. They have found us."

 **And just like that, another chapter finished and posted! I hope you all enjoyed what I have to offer this time around. I especially hope I did a good job with properly doing justice to Starfire's origin story retelling in this chapter (especially the flashback; one of my favorite scenes I've written for this story so far). And for those who weren't already familiar with the comic backstory of Starfire, I hope I've allowed you to learn some interesting (and also fairly tragic, among other things) information about our favorite happy go lucky Tamaranean princess. And in case you hadn't already figured out, the words that are in bold during the flashback part of this chapter? That signifies that the characters are speaking in Tamaranean. And furthermore, I do hope that the ending of this chapter leaves you plenty hungry for more. All that said, I again hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of two reviews for this chapter before the next finished and approved chapter gets posted).**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans finally have their very first proper encounter with the Umbrosians.**


	5. The Ambush

**Hey everybody! I now proudly present the latest chapter! As of this chapter, the Titans finally have their first proper encounter with the Umbrosians. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so! Please read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, to avoid getting sued, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. I only own the Umbrosians. That being said, onward with the fic ya'll!**

 **Chapter 4:**

 **The Ambush**

"Titans, get ready. We've got some fighting to do." Robin turned his head to face Starfire's compartment. "You ready Star?"

Starfire nodded her head, a fierce look of determination on her face. "Yes Robin. I am."

"Good," said Robin. "Titans go!"

The titans gunned the thrusters, zooming towards the scene of the attacking Umbrosians. Once they'd reached convenient range, they deployed the ship's blasters and opened fire.

The Umbrosians halted their assault in surprise at the sudden blaster fire against them. As one, all the outside fighters narrowed their glowing red eyes, and then lifted their hands in the titans' direction.

At the sight of the crackling glow that surrounded the raised Umbrosian hands, Robin instantly knew what was about to happen. "Everyone, activate your shields!" He and the other titans did so, and the resulting jets of shadow fire were reflected away and prevented from causing too much damage to the T-ship. It didn't completely prevent the ship from getting damaged though.

Robin snarled at the sight of some small cracks that appeared on the nose of his compartment. "This definitely better not keep getting worse," he thought to himself.

"Shield power, 95%," said the electronic voice of the ship's computers.

"Titans," said Robin. "Keep firing."

The titans fired more and more blaster fire at the Umbrosians. Within seconds, several of the Umbrosians hissed in apparent agony as they faded away under the relentless blaster assault.

Then one of the Umbrosians pointed its hand towards the T-ship while hissing out an order to its fellow soldiers in the Umbrosian language. In a flash, a large contingent of the outside fighters detached themselves from the Tamaranean ship and zoomed towards the T-ship, as did fifteen of the ships.

"Titans! Separate!"

At the sound of this command, the titans caused the T-ship to split into its five component compartments.

"Alright. Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, you handle the ones that just detached to come after us. Beast Boy, you and I will focus on the ones still attacking Galfore's ship." Without a word between them, the five teenage heroes piloted their compartments in the respective directions assigned. Eight squadrons of outside fighters, plus six of the Umbrosian ships, promptly altered course and headed over to intercept them.

The rest of the group, however, placed all their attention on the three compartments containing Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven. The three titans in question, thankfully, were more than ready.

"Let's light 'em up ya'll," said Cyborg. He levitated his compartment upwards, and then forwards toward the force heading towards him. Starfire and Raven, meanwhile, flew their compartments to the left and the right, prompting three ships and four squadrons each to go after them, leaving a final group with the exact same numbers for Cyborg to deal with.

As Cyborg watched in his headlong glide towards his chosen assailants, the 'eyes' of the 3 ships before him started to glow, and the outside fighters raised their hands to reveal crackling orbs of darkness charging up for attack. Cyborg charged up his compartment's blasters and opened fire.

The entirety of one of the squadrons promptly faded away to nothing under the onslaught of blaster fire. Only one of the luckless squadron's members was able to successfully throw a fully charged attack at Cyborg before meeting its demise. Cyborg dodged the attack with ease, but before he could return fire, the rest had vanished, not wanting to end up space ash like their comrades.

The three ships, on the other hand, began to open fire with a salvo of their own brilliant red laser blasts. He dodged the salvo by diving downwards and then zooming up towards the ships from beneath their undersides, firing at the ship in the center for good measure. The ship received a direct hit to its 'underbelly', a small stream of sparks and smoke starting to emanate from where the blasts struck.

Two of the outside fighter squadrons swooped down towards Cyborg's compartment, one of them actively charging orbs of darkness in their hands and the other diving headfirst at Cyborg. Cyborg immediately concentrated on blasting the Umbrosians that were charging up. Once satisfied that all the members of that squadron had faded to nothing under his blaster assault, he switched his focus to the other, only for his human eye to widen in shock at the sight of just how fiendishly close to crashing into his compartment the squadron was.

He hurriedly mashed the shield trigger with his right fist. The forcefield that was conjured as a result was so strong that the entirety of the squadron attempting to dive bomb him plowed painfully against it, crackled with blue electricity, and then faded away within seconds. Panting in shock and relief, he reverted the shields, only to mentally curse as he saw that the last-ditch effort to save himself from the divebombing had cut his compartment's shield power down from 95 to 85%, far more than he would have preferred. "Keep it together," he told himself to avoid losing his cool over his brief carelessness. "You just need to be more careful."

Starfire, meanwhile, was firing left and right at the Umbrosians she was facing with her compartment's blasters. One by one, the members of three of the outside fighter squadrons faded to nothing. The last squadron, however, was now proving to be rather evasive.

She focused intently on the remaining squadron assaulting her, her green eyes narrowed, and brow furrowed as she worked determinedly to score a direct hit. Then, much to her pleasure, the evasive Umbrosians positioned themselves in a circle around her compartment, hands at the ready and charging up. With a smile on her face, she switched her blasters to 'continuous beam' mode. "Raava de zuuso," Starfire whispered to herself.

In English, "Beware the light."

With a flash and bang, continuous laser beams spouted from her blasters, shredding her remaining would be attackers to nothing as she spun her compartment around in circles.

Raven, however, was spending more time calmly floating her compartment around and dodging her assailants' attacks then actively attacking them herself. "Remain calm," she said to herself. "Just keep leading them on."

Right as she had them all joined up and swooping towards her, charging orbs of dark energy at the ready to be cast, she halted her compartment, maneuvered it so that its underside was facing them, and pressed a button. The metallic covering of the underside opened up, revealing what looked like a trio of glass circles, and let loose a trio of gigantic flashes of light. Raven had activated the emergency spotlights.

The Umbrosians shrieked in agony as they felt the burning sensation of the impossibly bright light on the darkness of their skin. Several of them hurriedly turned around and tried to flee while the spotlights were busy evaporating their comrades, only to promptly be destroyed themselves once their compatriots fully evaporated and left them with no defense. Once the entirety of the four outside fighter squadrons were thus destroyed, Raven shut off the spotlights and maneuvered her compartment back into proper flying position, ready to focus on the three ships that had now slowly managed to get her back in their sights.

Robin and Beast Boy had made it halfway to the Royal Tamaranean starship when they noticed the six ships and eight outside fighter squadrons heading after them.

"Great," said Beast Boy. "Now what?"

Robin took one quick look at their pursuers, then back at the larger force, and then at Beast Boy. "Beast Boy," he said. He pointed at the smaller group pursuing them. "Do you think you can handle them?"

Beast Boy glanced in the direction Robin was pointing. "Maybe?"

"Well that better mean yes," said Robin. He gunned the thrusters of his compartment as he hurtled off towards the larger Tamaranean ship. "Keep them off of me so I can focus on saving the Tamaraneans."

"Robin wait, I'm not sure how I . . ."

But Robin was already too far away and had too much noise from his compartment's thrusters going off to hear the changeling. "Oh alright fine," Beast Boy grumbled. He directed a glare in the direction of the small group chasing him, and then at the one still attempting to chase after Robin.

The Boy Wonder hurtled to a close distance away from the Royal Starship, got two squadrons of outside fighters in his targeting computer's sights, and then opened fire. The attacking Umbrosians were promptly taken aback when yet more blaster fire came upon them. At least three outside fighting squadrons faded away under the onslaught before the leader diverted its attention from its own assault on the ship once more. Upon sight of the lone compartment opening fire directly at its forces on the larger ship, its red eyes narrowed. Then it noticed the small group pursuing the compartment, and it shrugged in dismissal before returning its attention to its own task.

Beast Boy was wracking his brain trying to figure out how to handle both the group pursuing him _and_ the group pursuing Robin. "Beast Boy take the controls," Beast Boy grumbled as he slowly swooped around with his original pursuers still chasing him and keeping his focus on Robin's pursuers at the same time. "Does anyone ask if I know how?" He took a quick look at the two groups once more. "Well, I suppose I can at least start by actually firing at the ones on Robin's butt."

Naturally, the Umbrosians pursuing Robin were both surprised and annoyed when they suddenly came under fire from a completely separate enemy. They hissed, and raised their hands to charge up attacks. Beast Boy was quick to keep firing at them upon sight of this. Two of the squadrons were destroyed entirely before the other two squadrons paused their attack charging to swoop out of range.

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed at the sight of the two squadrons swooping away from his blaster fire. Then he heard the sound of hissing behind him, and he turned his compartment around and started firing at his own pursuers.

This time, he only managed to completely annihilate one of the outside fighter squadrons before the rest flew out of range. He snarled at the sight of this. "You just have to make things hard, don't you?" Then he heard blaster fire coming from behind him, and he turned his head in time to see that the group pursuing Robin had once again returned its attention to the Boy Wonder. He turned around and zoomed back in that group's direction. "Hey!" he yelled. "I'm not done with you yet!"

Robin kept firing at the larger force attacking Galfore's ship. This time, he managed to eliminate 10 squadrons of outside fighters before he finally attracted their attention once more. This time, the apparent leader was both surprised and outraged when he saw both how many of his forces had just been slaughtered by this one fighter.

With a snarl, he pointed his right arm towards Robin's compartment and howled a command in his native language. In an instant, half the outside fighters attached to the Tamaranean ship detached and flew towards the Boy Wonder.

Acting remarkably calmly considering the circumstances, Robin continued firing his blasters at the incoming attackers. Then, when he noticed he wasn't making nearly enough progress in taking them out, he switched his blasters from 'pistol' mode to 'machine gun' mode.

Once only a quarter remained of the group that was now heading towards him, the remaining Umbrosians in question hurriedly split off into various directions and artfully kept themselves dodging and safe from the blaster shots fired at them. In his annoyance, Robin completely failed to realize how much blaster power he was unintentionally wasting until he heard the low power beeping start to go off. His masked eyes widened as he saw that the blaster capacity in his compartment was now down to 1%.

He stopped firing, and retracted his blasters. Right now, he really needed to allow them time to recharge.

He looked up in time to see that the remaining Umbrosians coming after him had regrouped and were now swooping straight towards him. Robin kept his compartment hovering still as the Umbrosians continued towards him. Then, when the incoming attackers were about 5 minutes away from ramming into him, he caused his compartment's shields to activate and then gunned the thrusters, sending his compartment rocketing straight towards his attackers.

His T-ship compartment rammed into them, causing them all to crackle and fade from existence upon contact with the bright blue energy light of the force fields.

Once he brought his compartment to a stop and deactivated the force fields, Robin turned his head to look behind him, a smirk on his face before looking back in the direction of the Tamaranean ship, noticing how the Tamaraneans were now actively fighting back themselves. It turned out, the force that Robin had just taken out had consisted of the Umbrosians that were initially preventing the Tamaraneans from activating their ship's own blasters and allowing warriors to depart from the ship to take part in combat outside the ship themselves.

"They should be able to handle themselves for a good long while now." He looked over in Beast Boy's direction and saw how he was currently handling himself quite admirably, but still not to the point that assistance wouldn't be appreciated. "I'd best see if I can help Beast Boy out a bit."

Meanwhile, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven were fighting furiously against the Umbrosian ships that had been sent after them. Cyborg, having finally managed to take out the last of the Umbrosian warrior squadrons beforehand, appeared to be having the most fun with the situation.

"Booyah!" he yelled as he opened fire at the three ships that had been assigned against him, his blaster fire set to 'cannon' mode.

The trio of ships attempting to assault Starfire's compartment hardly did any better. Starfire artfully flew her compartment helter-skelter as she successfully dodged the laser blasts of her assailants and simultaneously fired back with her own shots.

Raven, as it so happened, was doing quite well against the ships chasing her despite, once again, not having fired a single blast or deployed her shields once the whole encounter. "Remain calm. Stay focused."

After a while, her focus paid off. She came to a stop right as all three of the Umbrosian ships had gathered right in front of her. She stopped her compartment and lifted her hands, eyes now glowing with her distinctive black energy. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

In a flash, each of the ships was suddenly struck with what looked like slash marks of black energy before being explosively sliced in half.

Robin and Beast Boy were hard at work fighting together against the six ships and remaining outside warriors that had been assigned to go after them. "Die! Die! Die!" Beast Boy yelled as he fired his blasters indiscriminately at the outside fighters. Within minutes, all but one of the squadron's facing against Beast Boy had been killed off by the changeling's blasters. Immediately after this, however, the trio of ships assigned against Beast Boy let off a salvo of blaster fire at him, forcing him to hurriedly switch onto the defensive.

Robin, on the other hand, had kept himself on the defensive for virtually the entire time he'd joined up with Beast Boy, due to how his blasters were still recharging. After a while, he found himself surrounded. Robin looked around him, and then smirked as he came up with an idea. Right as the ships started firing their blasts at him, he hurriedly caused his compartment to drop downwards. Thus, two of the ships, plus the two attack squadrons, were promptly vanquished as the Boy Wonder's swift dodge caused them to unwittingly shoot mercilessly at each other. However, one of the ships remained unharmed from Robin's dodging gambit, and it immediately flew after him once more.

Robin had spent a full three minutes keeping himself from getting blasted by the remaining ship on his tail before it suddenly exploded after getting hit seemingly by friendly fire. Robin looked in the direction that the blasts had come from just in time to see none other than Beast Boy.

Robin shook his head in bemusement. He accessed Beast Boy's commlink. "Thanks Beast Boy."

"Friends," said Starfire's voice. "Are you the alright?"

Beast Boy and Robin tapped into their commlinks. "We're good," said Robin.

"What he said," said Beast Boy.

"Oh joy," said Raven.

"Good to hear from you to Rae."

"It's Raven."

"While I love hearing byplay just as much as any other dude," said Cyborg's voice on the commlinks, "let's save the flirting between anyone not named Robin or Starfire for when we're not in imminent danger."

"We're not flirting!" Beast Boy and Raven yelled.

"Enough," said the Boy Wonder. "Everyone taken care of their attackers?"

His four subordinates instantly indicated 'yes'.

"Good," said Robin. "Now let's check on Galfore and the other Tamaraneans."

As it turned out, things seemed to now be going well for those on board the Royal Tamaranean starship. Much to the Titans surprise, all the remaining ships and outside warriors appeared to be retreating en masse from the giant ship.

"Did we win?" Beast Boy asked.

"It certainly looks like it," said Cyborg.

Robin, however, narrowed his eyes at the sight of the seemingly retreating Umbrosians. He had an eerie feeling that this was looking a little too good to be true.

The retreating forces came to a stop, and then turned around to face the direction of the large starship. A small vortex of what appeared to be lightning in space appeared behind them, gradually expanding until it formed an entire giant portal of lightning and darkness. One of the Umbrosian soldiers turned around, gave a wave, and swooped through the portal, the rest of the warriors and ships following close behind.

Then the shock doubled when first a pair of giant glowing red lights appeared within the vortex, and then an entire gigantic Umbrosian ship slowly emerged from it. The ship was easily twice the size of the Tamaranean starship, dwarfing it considerably. Extending from the sides of it were a pair of wing-like extensions that resembled the wings of a manta ray.

The worst aspect, however, soon revealed itself when the 'head' of the ship split in two in the style of an opening mouth, revealing a large metallic hole that suddenly started to glow and crackle with an ominous red light directed straight towards the Tamaranean Royal starship. The sight of this was enough to cause the Titans to rapidly start sweating with nerves.

"Oh Hell," said Cyborg.

. . . . .

Galfore, meanwhile, had very similar thoughts running through his head. "Hard to port!" he bellowed. "Turn this ship around and get it moved as far out of the way as you can! A direct hit by that thing could easily kill us all!"

"Yes your Excellency," said the two Tamaraneans responsible for steering, hurriedly working to get the ship turned around and out of range.

Two minutes later, right as the Tamaranean ship had gotten itself halfway out of the enemy line of fire, the Umbrosian ship fired its blast. The resulting beam of red energy plowed into the middle of the Tamaranean ship's right side, leaving a gaping smoking hole in the area of impact. The royal starship was also briefly sent spinning off course before managing to come to a stop directly facing the direction of the T-ship compartments.

Starfire hurriedly accessed her communicator's link to the starship. "K'norfka," she said. "Are you alright?"

"We're alright," said Galfore. "For now."

Then the conversation was halted as a result of the giant Umbrosian ship starting to fire a salvo of comparatively smaller lasers from its 'eyes' towards the Tamaranean ship.

Galfore whispered a curse under his breath, and turned his head to face the two crew members he'd earlier addressed. "How far are we from the Vega system?"

"We're right at the border," said one of the pilots.

"There's a planet not too far that way," said the other.

Galfore and the other Tamaraneans all looked in the direction the one pilot had pointed, and saw none other than a green, gray, and somewhat ugly looking planet not too far away from them that, despite its appearance, now seemed a very welcome presence in their sight.

Galfore leaned forward in his seat, pointing in the planet's direction. "Engage the thrusters! We're going to that planet!"

"Your excellency," said the captain of the guard. "Are you sure? We don't know for certain what planet that is. It could be dangerous."

"That's a risk we're just going to have to take," said Galfore. "Dangerous or not, we'll last much longer down there then we will against that monstrosity firing at us. Of that, I am certain."

As if to emphasize Galfore's point, three laser blasts from the Umbrosian ship struck the Tamaranean ship's tail.

The captain promptly turned to face the two pilots. "You heard his excellency, set a course straight for that planet."

"Yes sir," said the pilots in unison, and within seconds, the Tamaranean ship began making its way over to the planet.

Galfore swiftly resumed his transmission with Starfire. "Starfire, are you still there?"

"Yes."

"Do you see that planet I'm currently heading towards?"

There was a brief pause. "Yes."

"Good. Meet us there, and bring your friends with you."

"I will."

. . . . .

Starfire ended her transmission with Galfore. "Friends," she said. "Galfore and the rest of my people are heading towards a nearby planet. He has requested we go there with them."

"Not gonna argue there," said Robin. "Titans, regroup!"

The Titans rejoined their compartments back together, activating their shields at the same time. With the T-ship protected by its now united singular force field, the Titans flew off in the direction that the Tamaranean ship was heading, simultaneously dodging laser fire from the Umbrosian ship as much as they could and letting the shield handle whatever blasts they weren't able to dodge.

. . . . .

Right as the T-ship and the Tamaranean royal starship were seconds away from adequate distance to initiate landing procedures, the captain of the vast Umbrosian ship hovered his hand over the button that would initiate charging the larger cannon for a 2nd blast.

Then he gave the nearby planet a side glance, his eyes narrowing as he took a closer look at it, and then his eyes brightened as if he were smiling. He lowered his hand. "That's enough," he warbled to his subordinates. "Let us withdraw."

"Sir?" asked one of the pilots. "You are certain of this?"

"Yes."

"But sir," said another pilot. "We're under orders to eliminate them. . ."

"Which the inhabitants of that planet they're heading towards should have no trouble doing for us."

The captain nodded his head. "We've done enough. The Titans will not leave that planet unless the Tamaraneans on board the other ship do so as well. Of that, the Tamaranean exile was quite insistent, and with the damage we've already dealt, it should take some time for sufficient repairs to be made. That alone will be more than enough time for that planet to destroy them."

He looked at the pilots. "Deactivate the blasters and set a course back to home base, and activate the communications array. It is of the utmost importance that I file a report of this news to the council and the Tamaranean exile."

"Yes sir," said the thirteen pilots in unison.

 **And just like that, a new chapter done! Hope you all enjoyed it and leave plenty of feedback (remember, exact minimum of two reviews is required before the next completed and beta-approved chapter can be posted). I especially hope you got a kick out of finally seeing the Umbrosians in action. And all that in mind, just what planet have the Titans and Tamaraneans chosen to land on? All good questions! Again, I hope you've enjoyed this new chapter and leave a respectable amount of feedback!**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans and Tamaraneans have successfully landed on the conveniently located Vega system border planet and are now safe from the Umbrosians. Question is, is this planet they've landed on any safer for them? And just who are the inhabitants of this planet that the Umbrosians seemed to confident would be more than capable of eliminating the Titans and Tamaraneans for them? Find out next time!**


	6. Marooned on Hostile Territory

**And now I present a brand new chapter! Boy I'm on a roll right now aren't I? All that said, here's to hoping you all read and enjoy this chapter (not to mention leave plenty of feedback). For in this chapter, some exploration is made on the planet that the Titans and Tamaraneans have landed on to escape the Umbrosians. And all that said, just what is this planet? And is it any safer then the earlier encounter with the Umbrosians? Let's find out, shall we?**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do NOT own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based. Get that? Got that? Good. Let us begin.**

 **Chapter 5:**

 **Marooned on Hostile Territory**

The ships landed upon the planet's surface, deactivating immediately afterward. The Titans were the first to disembark from their ship, Starfire immediately flying over to where the Tamaranean royal starship had landed. She settled onto the damp grass not too far to the ship's right just as the ship's ramp lowered. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Galfore descend the ramp behind a small contingent of guards.

"Is everything alright?"

Starfire turned her head in time to see Robin and the other Titans come to a stop behind her.

The Tamaranean princess nodded. "Yes Robin, everything appears to be fine."

Metallic creaking drew everyone's attention to the ship's right wing as it detached from its mooring and crash landed on the soggy ground below. Starfire winced. "Well, mostly everything."

Cyborg took a look at the gaping hole. "That's one way to put it," he mumbled.

Galfore sighed, and shook his head side to side. "You there." The two pilots stood at attention. "There are mechanics on board, are there not?"

"There is a mechanic on board your excellency," one of the pilots responded.

"Find him, and make sure he gets straight to work on examining the damage if he hasn't already. We must have it repaired as soon as possible."

The two pilots hurried back to the interior of the ship to search for the onboard mechanic.

"K'norfka," said Starfire. "My friend Cyborg is a very skilled mechanic amongst the people of Earth. He is trusted with the maintenance and repairs of our ship and other vehicles and gadgets my friends and I use. If you will allow him, I do believe he could prove helpful assisting your mechanic."

Galfore thought to himself, and then nodded.

"I will allow it. We still don't know for sure what planet we're on just yet, and it could prove to be just as dangerous as what we just escaped from. If it allows the chance for us to depart back for Tamaran any sooner, I'll accept whatever help I can."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Cyborg said. He started making his way towards the hole from the outside. "I'll take a look. And if I find anything important, I'll make sure to mention it." He came to a stop directly in front of the hole, got on his knees, and started carefully examining the damage.

"Is there any way the rest of us can help?" Robin asked.

Starfire looked back at Galfore who thought to himself. He then directed a glance towards a nearby path behind the parked T-ship. "Take that path and explore the area around us. It would be wise for us to make sure that this area is truly safe before letting our guard down. And if at all possible," he continued, "see if you can find some material we can use to make fire. I don't wish to have to make camp here, but if the situation occurs that we must, it is better to be safe than sorry."

Starfire raised her hand. "K'norfka," she then said. "If it is the alright with you, I wish to accompany my friends in this task."

Galfore nodded. "You go ahead. The more people to cover ground and keep an eye out on the rest, the better." He turned his head to face the captain of the guard. "Captain, take your men, spread out, and form a perimeter around the immediate area. I want you all to keep watch while the rest of us work."

"Yes my lord," said the captain. He signaled for his men to follow him, and the guards departed to begin their watch.

Another silent signal from Galfore was made, and Starfire flew over to rejoin her friends. "We are free to go on our search."

Robin nodded. "You heard Star, let's move." The four younger Titans headed off into the undergrowth together.

. . . . .

After a few minutes of trekking through the swampy forest, the Titans found themselves at a crossroad.

Beast Boy shifted out of his bloodhound form. "Ok, which way do we go now?"

Robin thought to himself. "Raven." He pointed down the path to the left. "You and Beast Boy head that way." He pointed to the opposite path behind him. "And Starfire and I will take this path."

Beast Boy and Raven looked at each other, an awkward pause forming between them. Mentally biting their tongues, they looked back at Robin.

"If you say so," said Raven.

. . . . .

For what seemed like an hour, Beast Boy and Raven travelled down the path without saying a word to each other. There were a few times where they felt tempted to speak. There was also one noteworthy instance in which both of them were startled by the shrieks of a suddenly appearing flock of small red crested green and yellow pterosaur-like birds flying overhead. But in the end, they mostly stayed silent.

After a while, Beast Boy finally couldn't take it anymore. "Well, so far, not seeing any firewood." He looked up towards the sky. "And unless those freaky birds we saw earlier turn out to be man eaters, I haven't seen any potential dangers to worry about either."

Raven snorted, rolling her eyes at Beast Boy's somewhat obvious assessment. "Me neither," she then said.

Beast Boy nodded, and then pointed further down the path. "Keep going?"

"Keep going."

The two resumed their walk. This time, it only took minutes before Beast Boy finally couldn't fight the urge to talk anymore. "Could we . . . talk . . . while we're doing this?"

"If you think we can do that without getting too distracted, then maybe. Though I can't say either of us will have an easy time figuring out just what to talk about."

"Well I don't think it would be too difficult," said Beast Boy. "I mean, for one, we were all able to see Black Panther last week. Or hey, there's a bunch of other movies coming out this year that could prove worth a watch together." He winced. "As a team I mean! Oh! Maybe we could talk about the latest books we've read."

Raven raised a brow and tilted her head in his direction. "You? Read?"

"I'm serious." Beast Boy sighed. "I mean, yes, I don't really read that often, but I do read every now and then. It helps that with a bunch of books I _have_ read I watched the movies first."

"That must have been a world of improvement for you," Raven droned.

"I agree with you there," Beast Boy agreed, completely blind this time to Raven's deadpan delivery of what she'd just said. "I mean, look at those two Percy Jackson movies. But hey, some movies of books have turned out ok at least instead of outright terrible."

"Oh really?" asked Raven.

"Yes, really," said Beast Boy. "I mean, I thought Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker was at least decent, even if not quite as good as the book. And the Hobbit movies . . . eh, could have been better, could have been worse."

"Well that's a matter of opinion," said Raven.

"And then there's stuff like How to Train your Dragon. I mean, I know that it might not what you're into, but I thought they were cool."

"I'll look into them," Raven droned in a sarcastic voice, but privately making note to try to sneak in a watching of the DVDs Beast Boy had.

"And I know, for a _fact_ , that you like both the book _and_ movie versions for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I _saw_ you watching and enjoying those movies, and there's also a chance I may have caught you and Star watching the Hunger Games."

Raven came to a stop, placing her arm in front of Beast Boy. He narrowed his eyes in confusion, but when he looked in the direction Raven was looking, his eyes widened. They were now standing right at the entrance to a clearing, and the sight of three very disturbingly familiar looking humanoid reptiles with wings that appeared to be impaled through the backs on top of tall sharpened bamboo stakes was the first thing to greet them.

The two chromatically challenged Titans looked each other in the eyes. "Tell Robin and Star?" Beast Boy asked.

"Tell Robin and Starfire," Raven responded. "Now."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Robin and Starfire, after a considerably more talkative trek down their own chosen path, had reached what looked like an abandoned temple. They stared intently at the dilapidated building, wondering whether or not they should enter the building and explore it, explore only the area outside it, or turn around and go back.

Starfire looked at Robin. "Should we go inside?"

Robin sighed, and shook his head. "I don't know Star. It looks like it's hardly been used, if at all. There might not be anything in there worth looking around for. For all we do know, there could be something dangerous in there."

Starfire took another look at the ruined temple. "Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to take at least a little peek? I mean, if there is something dangerous in there, it would be wise to know for certain so as to let Galfore and the rest of my people know about it."

Robin thought to himself. "Well I suppose you do have a point there. . ."

"And who knows, there may be clues in there as to what planet we're on. I took many lessons on the culture and history of other Vega system planets after all."

Robin nodded his head. "I guess it's fine then. But as soon as we get any concrete sign of legitimate danger in there, we get out."

Starfire nodded, and the two entered the temple.

At first, they found nothing noteworthy as they walked through a generic dark and abandoned tunnel. Then they reached the end of the tunnel, and their eyes widened. While hardly less damaged compared to the rest of the building, this central room seemed in better condition. In fact, as Robin found himself quite amazed to see, the large statue that dominated the center of the room seemed almost completely untouched apart from a few obvious missing pieces here and there.

Robin walked towards the statue, feeling strangely intrigued by it. For starters, the size of the thing reminded him of Trigon. Adding to the sense of wonder he felt was how very clearly it was of a humanoid reptile. The statue's legs and feet (one of which was missing all three of its front claws) resembled those of a t-rex. It had a long dragon-like tail with half of a fish-like fin on the tip. The body, particularly the spines on its back, reminded him of Godzilla. Although two spikes on the statue's shoulders looked considerably wider than all the spikes on its back. Finally, the head of the statue looked somewhat like that of a frog with a cracked t-rex-like mouth that appeared to be missing multiple teeth. The face of this head was also very harshly cracked and burned to the point that only one eye, plus one whole half of the face, looked remotely recognizable as a face of any sort. And clutched in its clawed hands was what looked like some sort of pole with jagged edges on both tips.

Then Robin found his attention grabbed by some strange markings near the statue's feet. He got down on his hands and knees, drew out a small flashlight gadget from his belt, and examined the markings. They appeared to be a trio of what looked like a mixture between hieroglyphics and Japanese kanji. "What do these mean?" he thought to himself in curiosity.

Starfire, meanwhile, was interested in the miraculously still recognizable murals and similar artwork on the room's walls. Without Robin even noticing, she flew over to the one directly to her left while Robin made his way to the statue. She landed, took a few steps towards it, and then narrowed her eyes in concentration as she gazed at the mural.

The image depicted appeared to be of a vicious battle between three animals. One of them was what looked like a large striped and saber-toothed cat that appeared to be breathing fire. The target of this fiery breath looked like a large lizard with fins on its back, a fish-like tail, and frog-like feet with hideously sharp claws. This lizard-like beast, subsequently was rearing out of what seemed to be some sort of watery environment and hissing skyward at a hawk-like bird with a serrated beak and a pair of tufts on its head that reminded Starfire of Beast Boy's ears. And this bird's very intimidating looking talons appeared to be prepared as if about to try to strike at the fire breathing cat-like beast.

The next mural depicted the same three beasts in more humanoid looking forms, but still looking fairly bestial in appearance. The only truly non-bestial aspect of the three figures in this mural was the fact that they each held very obvious weapons in their hands. The lizard humanoid held an intimidating looking trident that it was currently on the verge of thrusting in the direction of the cat. The humanoid hawk held a mace in one hand and a battle ax in the other, and was dive bombing towards the lizard. And the humanoid cat was lunging towards the hawk with its hands tightly clenched around a long spear.

Then she came to a stop in front of the third mural in the room, and froze. Her green eyes widened in horror at the sight of what was depicted in this mural. The same three different figures were present in the image. But this time, all three of them were sufficiently evolved to look rather disturbingly familiar. The humanoid hawk, despite retaining its wings, looked entirely like an earthling human, with the equally distinctive hawk-like head now reduced to the form of a helmet rather than flesh and blood. The humanoid cat, now revealed to be a female, similarly, no longer looked even remotely cat-like, and was dressed in an outfit that looked almost exactly like the one she was wearing. But it was the lizard's form in this mural that made her feel especially worried.

Gulping, she turned her head to examine the rest of the murals, and her heart leaped into her mouth. In the very last mural, the image depicted was a vast gathering of the lizard beings bowing reverently towards a giant figure that looked just like. . . her eyes widened, the very thing that the giant statue in the center of the room depicted.

She turned her head to face Robin. "Robin?" she asked worriedly.

Robin looked up from his examining of the alien word engraved at the statue's base. "Is something wrong?"

Starfire nodded. "I fear their might be." She pointed at the statue. "That statue. Is there an engraving near it I could see?"

Robin gestured towards the word he'd been feeling so curious about engraved at the statue's feet. "Right here," he responded. "Is this important?"

Starfire flew over to her boyfriend and carefully examined the alien markings that had attracted his curiosity. Her eyes widened in horror upon recognizing what it said, confirming her misgivings in the process.

"Do you know what it says?" Robin asked.

"Zog," said Starfire. She turned her head to face Robin. "The name of the figure depicted by this statue. It's Zog."

"Ok?" Robin asked, now rather confused. "What does this have to do with. . ."

"Robin, look at the murals around us," said Starfire, pointing at the murals in the process. "Tell me, the lizard-like figures present in the images. Do they not at all look familiar to you?"

Robin examined the murals. Seconds later, his eyes widened. He looked at Starfire. "Star, this planet. Is it. . .?"

Starfire nodded, her face clearly showing how terrified she was now feeling. "We need to find Beast Boy and Raven," she then said. "And then we need to get back to where we landed and inform Cyborg, Galfore, and the rest of my people!"

. . . . .

Galfore stood before Cyborg and the Tamaranean mechanic, a half displeased, and half resigned look on his face. "You are certain of this?"

Cyborg and the mechanic nodded their heads.

"I am really sorry about this your excellency," said the mechanic, bowing his head in the process. "But it would appear that the damage dealt upon our ship by the Umbrosians is worse than we thought."

"He's right," said Cyborg. "The blast that left that huge hole? It also damaged the main power core. It's a miracle you were able to safely land here without the ship blowing up after that blast hit. Combine that with the rest of the damage, and we're in pretty bad condition."

Galfore sighed, and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Can it be fixed?"

"Yes," said the mechanic. "But it will take time."

Cyborg nodded in agreement. "With what we've got available, and my help, it could take about at least an hour, maybe two if we're lucky, to fix this thing. And those are the best-case scenarios."

He sighed. "Look your highness, I know this probably isn't what you want to hear. But that's all the news we can give you."

Galfore sighed again. "Fear not, I understand." He nodded his head. "At the very least, try to get started on the repair work before we settle down for the night. I want there to at least be some level of progress made in fixing this ship before we all have to go to sleep." He turned to face the captain of the guard. "Captain," he said. "Call your men over and see if you can get a night watch set up. It's starting to look like me might need to make camp here."

The captain nodded. "Understood." He hurried off to make assignments.

As soon as he left, Starfire, Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven burst out of the undergrowth and arrived back in the clearing.

At the sight of the worried looks on his friends' faces, Cyborg raised his eyebrow. "Yo!" he said. "You ok?"

Galfore turned his head to face Starfire and her friends, his own face taking on a clear look of concern. "Starfire," he said. "What's wrong?"

"K'norfka," Starfire said, panting from how fast she'd flown to reach the area. "How soon can we be off this planet?"

Galfore looked over at Cyborg, who sighed. "Two hours if we're lucky. And if we're not, the earliest would have to be sometime tomorrow."

Galfore looked back at the now even more worried looking Starfire. "What happened out there?"

"K'norfka," Starfire said, clearly struggling not to panic. "If we cannot leave within the next two hours, then we must make sure that this entire area is kept as safe as possible. During our exploration, we found a temple. And I think I might know what planet we're on. And if I'm correct, then we are not safe here."

Galfore raised his eyebrow. "What planet are we on?" he then asked.

"YOU!"

"INTRUDERS!"

"WHO DARES TRESPASS ON OUR LAND?!"

They had landed on Gordania. And now, the Gordanians had found them.

 **Dun, dun, DUN! In all seriousness though, I hope you all read and enjoyed what I have to offer in this chapter (and remember, I require an exact minimum of two reviews for this chapter before the next completed and approved chapter can get posted). I should also mention that, for the sake of trivia, over the course of writing, there was initially a plan for a scene where Beast Boy and Raven explore a swamp (that ultimately morphed into the clearing in this final cut) and end up chased out by a Gordanian beast that resembles the piranhadons from the 2005 Peter Jackson King Kong movie. But in the end, I realized that I'd be better off having that idea removed for the sake of pacing. And in the end, I probably made a wise decision there huh? Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed what this chapter had to offer and leave plenty of feedback (with the exception of flames, as those are explicitly forbidden from my fanfics). Again, hope you all had fun!**

 **Coming up Next: The Titans and Tamaraneans are now in a bit of hot water now that they've been caught on Gordanian land by the Gordanians. How will things unfold from here?**


	7. An Unexpected Alliance

**I now proudly present, a brand new chapter! In this chapter, the Titans and Tamaraneans are in serious trouble now that they've been caught on Gordanian land by the natives. But could this unpleasant situation yet unfold peacefully? Let's find out. Shall we? All that said, here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based (with the exception of the Umbrosians). Believe me, if I did, Zack Snyder would have never been allowed anywhere near the DCEU (or David Goyer for that matter). But enough of that, onward with the story!**

 **Chapter 6:**

 **An Unexpected Alliance**

For a heart stopping moment, the small contingent of Gordanians and the mass group of Tamaraneans and Titans stared each other down in an intense standoff. Neither side dared move, neither side dared breathe, neither side dared indicate any sign of weakness.

Eventually, the apparent leader of the Gordanian group lost patience, and he thrust his trident threateningly in Galfore's direction. "Answer us scum!" he roared. "What are you doing on our land!?"

Galfore narrowed his eyes, as did all the other Tamaraneans. Starfire, however, was the one who stepped forward to face the Gordanians.

"I am Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran," she said. "My friends and my people, as you can plainly see, have been attacked and forced to land on your planet."

She pointed her finger at the squadron leader. "As you certainly are aware, there has been peace between our planets. An uneasy and tense peace. But a peace nonetheless." She folded her arms across her chest. "Allow us the courtesy of staying in this area unharmed long enough to repair our ship and leave without any trouble, and we shall cause you, your people, and your planet no harm in return. Do we have a deal?"

As the Titans and Tamaraneans watched Starfire and the Gordanians in half awe and half nerves, the Gordanians all narrowed their eyes at Starfire. The leader, in particular, seemed to recognize her. "I remember you," he hissed. "You used to be the heir to the throne of your planet." He clenched his fists tightly around his weapon. "But then, in exchange for the current peace between our kind, you were sold to us as a slave."

He hissed again. "I was there, with field commander Trogaar and my fellow general Garzvohg." He snarled. "You were to be taken and sold to the Citadel alongside a vast variety of other prize fighting stock we'd gathered. Including a Locrix, an Anulaxian screecher, and even an Okaaran sand worm.

"But then, on our way to the Citadel home planet, we were passing by Earth one night. I remember now. You miraculously managed to escape from our ship, and landed on Earth." He then directed a closer look at the rest of the group around Starfire, and his eyes seemed to blaze with fury at the sight of Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg. He pointed at them. "And you joined up with those four," he snarled. He lifted his trident, slamming the dull end down on the ground. "We should have won that night, gotten you back under our custody, and blasted that dull and bland city you landed in to for good measure. But by some impossible miracle, you and those four cretins dealt us one of the most humiliating defeats in our history!"

"And a well deserved one to," Robin grumbled under his breath.

Yarboth promptly pointed his trident straight at the boy wonder, his fellow Gordanians doing the same with their own tridents and staves. "SILENCE WORM!"

Robin gulped, cringing nervously.

When tensions had somewhat calmed down, Yarboth returned his attention to Starfire. "We made it to the Citadel home planet sometime after that mess, but because of your escape, they refused to pay us with the promised amount when they learned of your escape and our failure to recapture you." He shook his head. "Then, just to spite us, they put an end to our partnership.

"But now you have all landed on our world unannounced, and a mere week after a cowardly attack against us by that dishonorable worm you call sister!"

Starfire's eyes widened. "My sister . . . she attacked your planet?"

"Yes," Yarboth hissed. He slammed his trident. "And she was not alone. She had an entire army of living shadows under her command."

"Living shadows?" Robin asked. "You mean the Umbrosians."

Yarboth raised his eyebrow. "You know what they are called," he commented. "How?"

"Those same living shadows were attacking us when we were forced to land here," said Starfire.

Yarboth narrowed his eyes. "Hmph," he snorted. "A likely story."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never you mind."

Yarboth glared at Galfore. "You listening to what she's saying? You dare ask us to allow you any courtesy towards you after having now twice committed blatant violations of the peace between our planets?"

"Twice?"

Galfore stepped forward. "Twice? You blame _us_ for our exile's cowardly attack against you alongside the Umbrosians?!"

"We certainly wouldn't it put past you. You're Tamaraneans. You're always conniving like that."

"That's a lie and you know it!"

Yarboth pointed his clawed finger at Galfore. "You may not retain any physical characteristics of the beasts you evolved from, but you still have all the pride, laziness, and cunning of them. Deny it all you want, brute, but you and your kind still hide sharp teeth and claws behind those charming smiles and sickeningly sweet emotional exteriors. And will gladly lash out against anyone that displeases you in the slightest."

Galfore jabbed his finger at Yarboth. "At least we _try_ to be diplomatic! You scum? Your first instinct is always to declare war!"

Yarboth hissed as if in 'tsk, tsk' fashion. "And easily offended to. Just like cats."

Starfire stepped between Galfore and Yarboth. "Please," she said. "There is no need for this to end in violence."

Yarboth scoffed. "Why's that? You and your kin have already had your conveniently exiled sister commit blatant violent actions against us and our planet just last week. The only reason we haven't already revoked the peace and declared war against you all over again is because of how the planet is currently in mourning."

Starfire raised her eyebrow. "Mourning? For whom?"

Yarboth raised his eyebrow. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you wouldn't know. What would you care?" He gestured down the path behind him. "During the attack, the first location to be struck was the royal palace. Our king and the rest of the Gordanian nobles were having a meeting, and he was one of three nobles to be crushed to death by the cave-in that ensued thanks to a blast from the Umbrosian ships. Our fleet commander Trogaar was also among ten attending soldiers who were crushed alongside the three luckless nobles."

He clasped his hands together, bowing his head as if in respect for his fallen king and commander. "And on Gordania, it is custom for the entirety of our race to spend within 1-3 weeks mourning at the time of our ruler's death." He lifted his head. "But unless you give us a good reason against it, we will be more than willing to cut our mourning short so as to kill you right now and declare war upon Tamaran first thing tomorrow."

The Titans and Tamaraneans all hurriedly thought to themselves, desperate to think of something to say. Starfire, however, seemingly had no problem. "General," she said, "is it not customary for interplanetary intruders to be allowed a chance to properly speak their case to appropriate officials?"

Yarboth thought to himself. "Yes," he responded. "But why should we allow any of you such courtesy? We do not believe in the ideals of Tamaran, nor do we wish to bother ourselves with anything involving Earth."

"Indeed," Starfire admitted. "But I am told that you _do_ believe in honor. And out of belief that your kind are morally superior to my own, wouldn't you wish to uphold your honor in contrast to my sister's dishonorable attack?"

"I must admit," one of Yarboth's underlings hissed. "Naïve as she may be, the kitten has a point."

"Indeed." Yarboth nodded. "I hate it when the Tamaraneans are right."

Starfire had to fight to prevent a wide grin from coming on her face. "So you will allow us to explain ourselves?"

"Yes," Yarboth hissed, seeming to find the word bitter tasting. "We shall allow you to present your case to our current ruler, Prince Greerak. He shall grant you a fair chance to explain yourselves for your intrusion."

He lowered his trident, his subordinates doing the same with their own weapons.

"You," he said pointing at Starfire. "Shall come with me, and your four friends who fought alongside you that night. Along with the brute. As much as our kin respectively hate each other, he is still the Emperor. He is granted the privilege to speak for himself before his equivalent in our culture in situations like this."

He turned his head. "You two," he said, pointing at two of his subordinates. "Shall accompany us. But everyone else on both sides must stay here on truce until a signal is given on what to do next."

The Tamaranean captain of the guard suddenly stepped forward. "Excuse me general," he said. He raised his hands and stopped at the sight of the Gordanians pointing their weapons at him. "If I may speak?"

Yarboth thought to himself, and then nodded. His subordinates lowered their weapons.

"As captain of the guard, it is my duty, alongside that of my men, to keep the Emperor protected at all times." He bowed his head. "If it is alright with you, I request that I at least be allowed to accompany his Excellency."

The Gordanian underlings looked to Yarboth, who nodded after a moment's thought.

"Very well," said the Gordanian general. "I shall allow you to come with us. But _only_ you. All your men, as well as the other Tamaraneans, must stay here with my own underlings. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes."

"Good."

He turned around. "Let us proceed. His Majesty awaits."

. . . . .

The Titans couldn't help but let their eyes wander as they were escorted alongside Galfore and the captain down a long hallway. The most noticeable detail by far was the long line of statues of fierce Gordanian warriors on both sides.

Yarboth noticed. "These are the statues of all of our most fearsome warriors over the course of our history. It takes true courage to earn a place as a statue in this hall. Out of all our rulers, only seven of our kings have statues dedicated to them here." He rolled his eyes. "Right now, you have only luck on your side in determining whether or not his majesty Greerak allows you to live or chooses to kill you himself the way many of these warriors would have."

The Titans returned their attention to Yarboth, their eyes narrowing at his mood killing comments. But they wisely said nothing, so as to avoid risking his temper.

The group reached the end of the hallway, and the eyes of the guests widened at the sight of a pair of impressive green stone doors with golden lightning bolts engraved across them.

Yarboth raised his right fist and knocked thrice on the doors. "General Yarboth," he said aloud. "Reporting for duty." He bowed his head. "We have business to attend to with his Majesty."

After a tense minute, a voice finally responded from the other side of the doors. "Request accepted," the voice hissed. "Enter General."

Yarboth grunted, and pushed the doors open.

Standing at the end of a long green carpet was a trio of Gordanians dressed in dark gray cloaks. Their eyes widened at the sight of the seven foreigners behind Yarboth and his two subordinates.

"What are they doing here?!"

Yarboth pointed at the seven guests. "We found them in a clearing within the nearby forest. They claim to have been forced to land here by an attack from the living shadows. They have been brought here, as per legal privilege, to explain their case to his Majesty."

The three cloaked Gordanians looked each other in the eyes, and then turned their heads to look behind them. They nodded, and stepped aside, revealing what looked like a considerably younger Gordanian sitting on a throne positioned in between two braziers that burned with green flame. Raven and the boy Titans raised their eyebrows in confusion at the sight of him. Unlike the more frog-faced adult Gordanians they knew, this Gordanian's face looked more like that of a gecko.

As it so happened, this supposed young Gordanian currently appeared to be asleep, and he let out a snore. One of the cloaked adults grumbled, pressed his scaly hand on the sleeping teenager's shoulder, and shook him around. "Your majesty," he hissed. "Wake up. You have guests."

The young Gordanian snorted, opened his eyes, and straightened up in his throne. He licked his eyes with a long tongue as if to wake himself further. Then he closed his eyes, shook his head side to side, and focused his attention towards the group gathered at the doors. At the sight of the seven foreigners, however, his orange eyes narrowed, instantly taking on the familiar look the Titans had seen in the eyes of the other Gordanians.

Greerak hummed, gazing intently at his seven unexpected guests. "Intriguing," he hissed. "It's not every day you get visitors from another planet, let alone from Tamaran. Certainly not right inside your own throne room either." He leaned back in his throne, eyes still narrowed warily. "Well then," he said. "I suppose I'd best get this business over with. I am Greerak, son of Vraarak, and ruler of all Gordania."

The three cloaked Gordanians narrowed their eyes irritably. As royal advisors, the accepted protocol was that they were the ones who were supposed to introduce the king to any guests present. But evidently, the young king was still not fully taught enough to understand that yet.

Greerak nodded his head, and then pointed at Galfore. "I've heard of you. You are Galfore. Former caretaker of the Tamaranean royal line's children, now proud emperor of Tamaran."

Galfore nodded his head. "I am," he said.

Greerak grunted in acknowledgement, and then leaned forward in curiosity. "Well then," he began. "As sovereign ruler of Gordania, I ask you, sovereign ruler of Tamaran, to explain the reason behind your visit. Judging by our kinds' longstanding mutual enmity, you clearly must be personally here on Gordanian land for a very important reason."

"In a way, yes." Galfore lifted his head. "It is my understanding that your planet has recently been attacked by the Umbrosians."

"By the living shadows, yes." Greerak nodded his head. "And they were led by Komand'r, former princess of Tamaran turned disgraced exile. Why do you ask?"

"Well we were on our way peacefully to Tamaran," Galfore explained. "But we were attacked ourselves by Umbrosian forces. We were forced to land here for our own safety."

Yarboth snorted, and then rolled his eyes. "A likely story."

Quick as a viper, Greerak picked up a nearby trident, pointed it in Yarboth's direction, and blasted the floor right in front of the general's feet with a burst of green light. Yarboth jumped in fright. The Titans and the Tamaranean captain of the guard also jolted in surprise. Galfore merely lifted his eyebrow.

"General Yarboth!" Greerak shouted. "I am the King! I will decide whether my guests are being honest or telling lies! Not you! Am I understood?"

Yarboth gulped, and eventually nodded his head. "Yes."

Greerak narrowed his eyes further. "Yes what?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Good." Greerak nodded. "Now hold your tongue until I give you permission to speak." He looked back at Galfore. "Continue."

Galfore continued. "Like I said, we were forced to land on your planet through an attack by the Umbrosians. If we had been aware of this being Gordania, or our ship not been as damaged, we would have been more than willing to travel onward to another planet within this system."

He nodded his head. "All I ask now, is that you allow us enough time to stay and repair the damages to our ship so that we may depart from your planet as soon as possible. We mean no harm to you, your planet, or your people."

Greerak nodded his head, his advisors and soldiers watching him carefully. He placed his trident back where it had been resting. "It seems my mother was right," he began. "The time has in fact come."

Everyone else in the room promptly raised their eyebrows.

"Your majesty," said one of the advisors. "What is this madness of which you speak?"

"It is not madness that I speak of," said Greerak. "It is pure cold fact." He turned his head to face his advisors. "Go to the royal scroll chamber," he commanded. "Fetch the annals, and bring them here."

The advisors looked at their king in confusion.

Greerak's eyes narrowed. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get the annals!"

The advisors promptly snapped to attention, realizing that, confusing or not, they had just been given an order by their king. "Yes your Majesty." They rushed off.

Yarboth stared in the direction the advisors had taken, and then looked back at Greerak.

The prince noticed. "Permission to speak," he said.

"Your Majesty," said Yarboth. He gestured towards the seven guests. "You're letting them live. Why?"

Greerak raised his eyebrow. "You're saying I should kill them?"

"Well . . ." Yarboth said, pausing as if to consider his words carefully. "Yes."

"And why's that?"

"Because they are our enemies. And they gave the command for the attack on our planet!"

"Based on what evidence?"

Greerak pointed at Starfire, Galfore, and the captain. "The fact that they're Tamaranean just like the one leading the attack? You know perfectly well how that particular Tamaranean has now been twice exiled."

"Twice?" Starfire thought to herself. "When was the first time?"

"Well yes," Yarboth admitted. "But even so. . ."

"And do you not recall how the Okaaran's have also reported an attack against them by the exact same enemies?"

Greerak shook his head side to side. "You know just as well as the rest of us how they are just as much allies to the Tamaraneans as they are to us. We also have their word on good faith that the Tamaraneans would never deliberately call an attack on their own allies. And as blunt as they may be in their words, the Okaaran's have always been honest. Isn't that right?"

Yarboth nodded. "I suppose you're right. But even so, why should we trust them? Especially now of all times?"

The Titans and Tamaraneans looked to Greerak, similarly curious as to the young Gordanian king's reasoning behind his current decisions.

"Because even though an exiled member of their own race now leads them, the living shadows are just as much an enemy to the Tamaraneans as they are to us." Greerak nodded his head. "And furthermore, much like how they've attacked us before, this is also not the first time they've made enemies out of Tamaran either."

"Your Majesty. The annals."

The advisors came into view and handed Greerak a collection of scrolls. The prince removed one from its sheath, unfurled it, and began to read. "As I suspected, my mother was right." He looked to Galfore. "Lord Galfore," he said. "I presume that you and your little group here aren't the only ones visiting?"

"You are correct. There are others of my kind in the clearing where your soldiers found us."

"I thought so. General!"

Yarboth stood at attention.

"Signal your men to stand down. And have them escort the rest of this group's entourage here. We shall have them treated to our hospitality."

"Yes my lord."

Yarboth and his men turned and left the throne room.

"Your majesty," said one of the advisors. "Why?"

Greerak turned his head to face his counselors. "The answer you seek I shall soon provide." He leaned back in his throne. "But for now, I have more work for you to do." He gestured to the side. "Call for the nobles. Tell them that a council meeting is in order."

Everyone else in their room clearly took an interest in this announcement.

"A council meeting?"

"What for?"

"Firstly, we must discuss and prepare for battle. And secondly," he turned his head to face his guests. "It is becoming clear to me that the time has come for a long dormant alliance to reawaken."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I especially hope you like how this one has turned out. Granted, I am definitely engaging in a decent amount of artistic licence as far as the Gordanians' portrayal is concerned. But hey, when done right, a little inventiveness never hurt anyone, right? All that being said, I again hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, that my inventiveness here is a case of 'done right' rather then 'done Zack Snyder', and that you all leave a respectable amount of feedback (remember, A: I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews before I can post the next completed and approved chapter, and B: ZERO flames are allowed).**

 **Coming up Next: Back on Umbrosia, we take a look at how things are currently unfolding regarding Blackfire and her shadowy allies. And we also get introduced to another shady figure who has some ideas of his own on how Blackfire can best get her revenge on Starfire.**


	8. To Rule a Galaxy

**Hey everyone! Here I am! Back with another chapter! In this chapter, we cut back to Umbrosia to see how things are unfolding with our least favorite Tamaranean and her literally shadowy allies. And what's more, we also get introduced to another unscrupulous figure who has some especially morally reprehensible ideas of his own on how Blackfire can best achieve her desire for revenge against her sister. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so! And I especially hope you not only read, but also enjoy what I have to offer and leave a decent amount of feedback. Onward with the fic people!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do NOT own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. If I did, that piece of garbage replacement cartoon Teen Titans Go would have never existed (though on the bright side, at least it appears that we might finally be getting a proper canon 6th season for the TRUE Teen Titans cartoon as a result of that TTG movie; talk about a silver lining!). Anyway, back on topic, all in this chapter that I DO own are both the Umbrosians, and the name I've chosen to serve as the English translation for the name of a somewhat lesser known canon DC comic book character that appears in this chapter (and has yet to receive a canon translation for his native name in official DC canon). All that said, NOW onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 7:**

 **To Rule a Galaxy**

Blackfire felt a calmness as she looked down onto the vast army gathered at the base of the cliff. She smiled as she saw the Umbrosian soldiers talking amongst each other. "Yes," she thought to herself. "This truly is an ideal army for me. Perfect allies for me to have by my side once I am ruling Tamaran once more."

She turned around and walked away, her head lifted haughtily. "And with my sister, her friends, the best of the royal guards, and my old caretaker out of the picture, there are none who can stop me and my new allies from conquering the entire universe."

"I see you are happy."

Blackfire briefly jolted in surprise, and then rolled her eyes. "By X'hal, don't do that Nolfavrel!"

There was a chuckle, and the head of the Umbrosian council stepped into view. "A true ruler never lets his guard down. Not even among friends. Nevertheless, I am happy to see that you are content."

Blackfire turned around to watch the soldiers once more. "I will admit, out of all the beings I could have thrown my lot with, I truly made a wonderful choice of allies."

The councilman shuffled next to Blackfire. "I must mention though; we are still concerned about how you wish for us to leave the Vega system untouched."

"Well of course I'd want you to leave it untouched." Blackfire turned her head to face the councilman. "I need to have _something_ to rule once this conquest is over. And it might as well be my home star system."

Nolfavrel spread his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I understand."

"Glad to hear that. But even so, I will still allow you the all clear to do as you wish with Gordania."

"Why that planet?"

"Is it not obvious? The Gordanians have been my people's sworn enemies for centuries. I'd have to be a fool to leave them alive and risk them attempting to overthrow me. I'll already be busy with keeping my own people and X'hal knows how many other Vega System races under control once I've become Empress, and the last thing I need is for a race that already hates my kind to be amongst them."

Nolfavrel raised his eyebrow. "If you say so." He looked in the direction of the soldiers. "Tell me, when do you wish for us to fulfill this desire to have Gordania destroyed?"

Blackfire looked at Nolfavrel. "After we've conquered Tamaran. No earlier. No later."

Nolfavrel nodded in understanding. "And when do you plan for us to do that?"

Blackfire thought to herself. "Having acted careless the last couple of encounters against my sister and her friends, I know better then to allow myself to repeat such a mistake. They may no longer be any threat to us, but the Gordanians are, and so are my people."

She lifted her head. "I shall allow our forces to continue celebrating for the rest of this evening. But I want us to be prepared to do battle with Tamaran no later then the day after tomorrow."

"If you say so. And what of the offer you made with the almighty? Have you had any further thought on your decision?"

Blackfire placed her hand in her right pants pocket, fondling the small crystalline orb within. "As I said, I am more than willing to serve as his host. But not yet. For now, I believe we'll be more than capable of obliterating any feeble resistance against us as we currently are."

Nolfavrel thought to himself, carefully weighing his potential responses.

"Lord Nolfavrel!"

Blackfire and the head councilman turned their heads in time to see an Umbrosian messenger standing behind them. The messenger bowed, his hands clasped together in respect.

"The force we sent to intercept the Tamaranean royal starship, it has returned. The council requires your presence for its debriefing."

Nolfavrel nodded his head, filing his and Blackfire's discussion to the back of his mind. "Tell them I'll be on my way shortly."

"Yes Lord."

The messenger turned to face Blackfire. "Your presence will be required as well."

Blackfire raised her eyebrow. "Why?"

"Another guest from off world has arrived. He claims to have been searching for you, and that he wishes to ally himself with us as well."

Blackfire and Nolfavrel looked each other in the eyes, silently considering this news. They looked back at the messenger. "The more the merrier," said Blackfire. "Tell the council we shall be there shortly."

The messenger turned around and shuffled off back into the darkness of the cavern tunnels.

. . . . .

Blackfire and the Umbrosian council were gathered around and watching the massive group of Umbrosian soldiers standing before them. The captain of this force took five steps forward before bowing. "The deed has been done. The Titans of Earth and the royal entourage of Tamaran have been disposed of."

Blackfire smiled, and nodded her head. "And I couldn't be happier."

Nolfavrel and the rest of the council, however, were not so quick to accept this news.

"You have proof of this?"

Blackfire directed a glare at Nolfavrel.

The captain was similarly not amused. "Is my word not enough?"

"You know just as well as the rest of our kind the dangers of only trusting someone on mere say-so," said one of the six female members of the council.

"And that is precisely why we strongly recommended you bring back a physical body part of the targets to display as proof," said a male.

"Fortunately," said Nolfavrel, "there is still room for forgiveness if you indeed haven't brought such proof . . . as long as the manner in which you killed them involved causing their ships to explode within the vacuum of space."

The force of Umbrosian soldiers seemed to start whispering to each other.

"Neither of the ships exploded," the captain admitted. "Although, considering just where we managed to strike the royal Tamaran starship near the end, it's quite frankly a miracle that it didn't blow up right then and there."

"Then how _did_ you kill them?"

"By the time we'd struck them with that blast, they were within range of landing on Gordania. And we figured that the inhabitants on that planet would be more than willing and capable of finishing the job for us."

All 13 of the council members promptly narrowed their eyes. Even Blackfire's smile took on a much less confident look than before.

"Well," said Blackfire. "I suppose that's better than nothing."

Nolfavrel and the other council members weren't so optimistic.

"While understandable that you'd avoid going directly onto that planet," Nolfavrel began, "it would still have been preferable that you'd stuck around in some fashion to make sure that the targets indeed were killed by the Gordanians after you left them on their planet."

He nodded his head. "But for now, you may rest easy Phantrath. For the rest of our kind are currently in a celebratory mood on account of our otherwise entirely successful run of raids and similar activities across the galaxies. So for now, we will allow you and your men to help yourselves to food, drink, and merrymaking amongst the rest of us. But know this, you are still on watch from that other bit of carelessness you demonstrated on Rashashoon. If this turns out to be another costly screw up, you _will_ be punished. And trust me, you will not be allowed a 3rd chance."

Phantrath bowed once more. "Understood my lord." He turned to face the soldiers under his command and they melted into the shadows to join their comrades, their captain following suit immediately afterward.

The council hung their heads, sighing in unison.

Blackfire turned her head to face them. "Well, I suppose it might not be all bad. My sister and the titans may have been killed by the Gordanians by now."

"If what you have told us about them is in fact true," Nolfavrel began, "then this possibility is unlikely."

Blackfire's shoulders slumped. "Must you be so pessimistic right now?"

"It is always wise for a ruler to be willing to consider the possibility of something going wrong. That way, he or she will never be disappointed." He then exchanged a silent message to his 12 fellow council members. They all nodded in unison, and then looked back at Blackfire. "Now we believe it would be wise to reschedule the assault on Gordania earlier than originally planned and do battle with Tamaran immediately after that."

Blackfire raised her eyebrow. "Why?"

"Like I said, it is always wise to consider the possibility of something going wrong. So it would be wise for us to eliminate this potential threat as soon as possible.

"For now, we shall all enjoy the festivities we have begun, just as you've planned. But tomorrow, we must have ourselves prepared to head out to conquer Gordania as soon as possible."

Nolfavrel's 12 fellow council members nodded their heads and hummed in agreement.

Blackfire remained confused, but ultimately acceded to her allies' wishes. "If you say so."

"Excellent. Now, let us handle the second matter the council was called upon for this evening."

Nolfavrel clapped his hands. "At this time, we are ready to hear what you have to say. Show yourself."

An armored humanoid figure that looked about the same height as Blackfire walked into the cavern. When this figure came to a stop, Blackfire narrowed her eyes. For some reason, she couldn't help but feel that something about this figure seemed familiar to her. In particular, she was starting to get the feeling that she could somehow recognize the armor, gait, bearing, and what looked like strands of silvery white hair sticking out of the base of the helmet.

Nolfavrel narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Show your face. The council and I wish to know exactly who wishes to speak to us."

There was a pause before he lifted his gauntlet encased hands and removed the helmet from his head. His eyes blazed with fury, determination, and pride. "I have come to offer my services alongside those of exiled Princess Komand'r." He bowed. "Alongside her, I wish to serve as a soldier. And possibly as a spy."

"Intriguing request. Do explain your reasoning for it."

"I once loved someone very dearly. More than I can say." He clenched his right fist, blue sparks seeming to crackle. "And for a time, she seemed to feel the same way. But then one day she was taken from me. I alone cared enough to go off to try to find her and bring her back. Two years after my search began, I learned that she had managed to return home of her own free will, only to then depart back to the foreign planet from which she'd come. Lately, I have become aware that she has completely forgotten me and cast me aside in favor of a native from the planet she now falsely considers to be her home instead."

He rose to his feet. "And now, since the person I love seems so happy to have wiped her hands of me and the rest of my kind are all too eager to let her throw her life away like that, I now wish to join forces with the only one who seems to be willing to care about the proper way things should be."

Blackfire nodded, but kept her eyebrow raised. "Interesting. But why do you wish to involve yourself with me? Where do I fit into all this?"

"Simple. This person that I speak of? You hate her just as much as I used to love her. And as far as I'm aware, you wish to personally kill her in battle. I, however, have an idea that you might find even better."

"Oh really? And what might that be?"

The figure removed a thick sack he'd had slung across his shoulder, reached into it, and drew out two pieces of technology that Blackfire promptly widened her eyes upon sight of.

"X'hal have mercy," she said in surprise.

The visitor nodded. "Last year," he began, "I raided a Psion lab, and I made sure to confiscate this technology for myself before I destroyed it."

He gestured to the first of the two machines, a device that reminded Blackfire of the virtual reality helmets she'd seen during one of her visits to Earth. "This is a Psion hypno-helmet."

He gestured to the second machine, which Blackfire thought looked like a mix between a laptop computer and a hologram projector. "And this, is a Psion mind manipulator."

He scooped both machines back up into his arms. "With these two combined, I should have all the power I need to allow my alternate suggestion to be carried out."

"And what might that be?" Nolfavrel asked.

"Simple."

The guest looked back at Blackfire. "I will allow you to do with the rest of our people and anyone else who dares try to oppose you however you wish. But as for me, I wish, in the event that your sister and her four friends from that miserable troq planet known as Earth turn out to still be alive, to kill those four friends myself. I also wish to specifically save the one who has replaced me in your sister's heart for last and force her to watch as I kill both him and the rest of her friends from her false new home. And then . . ."

He allowed a ghastly grin to appear on his face. "I wish to allow her just enough time to cry and start grieving from the losses before I then use these machines to first erase her memory of them as well as all her memories of her time apart from me, and then replace them with whatever false memories I think of and similarly alter her mind and personality so that she will both treat you with the respect she failed to show you before _and_ love me, and _only_ me, as fully and truly as she used to before I lost her."

Blackfire's purple eyes widened, and so did the red eyes of all 13 of the Umbrosian council members. "That," said Nolfavrel, "is a very dark goal indeed."

Blackfire nodded her head in agreement, now feeling numb from just what had been suggested. For a brief moment, she found herself feeling doubt as to whether she truly wanted something like what this man had suggested to happen to her sister. But then she remembered her lingering rage and desire for revenge against her sister, and her doubts were submerged beneath her hate.

She nodded her head. "Your proposed alternate solution is acceptable." She opened her eyes. "State your name. As partners, I wish for us to be equals in our work."

"Gladly." The visitor nodded, his white hair dazzling in the light of the cavern's braziers, his green eyes literally glowing, and his hands encased by what looked like brilliant blue star bolts. "You may call me Cometbolt. And I will gladly serve as your partner, Blackfire."

 **And just like that, another chapter complete! And holy moly did this chapter end on a chilling note! Nonetheless, I hope that you all read and enjoyed what I have to offer in this chapter! Not to mention that you leave plenty of (NONFLAME!) feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I allow the next completed and approved chapter of this story to be posted). Furthermore, I also hope very much (and hopefully so do the rest of you) that we indeed do get the promised 6th season of the True Teen Titans cartoon that we so desperately need to serve alongside Teen Titans fanfiction to wash the foul taste of Teen Titans Go out of our mouths, and that said 6th season is TRULY worth the God knows how long wait. All that said and done, I once again hope you all read and enjoyed this new chapter!**

 **Coming up next: Meanwhile, back on Gordania, a tense council meeting is underway that could very well determine the fate of the galaxy.**


	9. The Gordanian Council

**Hey everyone! Hope you're all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a brand-new chapter! In this chapter, the Gordanians hold a council meeting that could very well determine whether the universe is saved or doomed. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so. Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: Again, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. And all that said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 8:**

 **The Gordanian Council**

Robin felt rather bemused as he sat alone in one of the Gordanian palace hallways. Granted, he was feeling very grateful to be alive and proud of Starfire for allowing them the chance to be granted the merciful hospitality they were now receiving, and by the Gordanians of all beings.

But at the same time, he could still remember their battle the night the Titans had been founded as if it were yesterday. He snarled upon remembering what Starfire had told him and the other titans about her being sold to them in exchange for peace between Tamaran and Gordania. But in the end, regardless of past history, the fact was that these same ruthless beings that had caused so much trouble were also now treating him with surprisingly generous hospitality. He shook his head.

Sometimes it still amazed him just how much the universe continued to be full of surprises.

"You appear to be deep in thought."

Robin's eyes widened, and he turned his head in time to see none other than the Tamaranean captain of the guard standing nearby. "What gave it away?" he asked sarcastically.

"I can understand why you feel unsure what to think about this situation." The captain nodded his head. "Much like you, I to am used to viewing the Gordanians as my mortal enemies. And the fact that they are now behaving in this hospitable fashion towards us leaves me quite stunned."

Robin chuckled. "You've certainly got that right."

"But I will also admit," the captain continued, "that you should feel proud of Koriand'r. Very proud of her indeed. It must have taken X'hal knows how much willpower for her to stay as calm as she did. I will say this, she has certainly proven a much better diplomat then I ever could hope to be."

"You're not the only one she can beat in that area," said Robin. Then he thought to himself. "You know, you seem to think rather highly of Starfire."

"Why would I not? She was formerly the crown princess and heir to the throne for Tamaran. She has also, from what I've been told, become one of the local defenders and heroes of the planet Earth." He hung his head, a slight flush of embarrassment coming onto his face. "And I'll admit, before the day she was sold to the Gordanians, she and I were . . . good friends."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Good friends huh? Would you, by any chance, happen to be Karras?"

The captain of the guard briefly appeared quite surprised. But then he nodded, a still slightly stunned look on his face. "I take it, Koriand'r has told you about me."

"Earlier today during our trip here," Robin confirmed. "Before the Umbrosians attacked."

Karras thought to himself, and then chuckled nervously, rubbing his fingers through his long red hair. "I will admit," he said, "this does feel rather awkward."

"You're telling me," said Robin. "I literally just found out _today_ that Starfire was once engaged to marry another man before she came to Earth. And I've just now found out that I've actually _met_ that man in person." He then narrowed his eyes as he realized another detail. "And I can't help but feel like I may have met you some other time before today as well."

"That's because you did. Three years ago to be precise, the time you and your friends visited Tamaran alongside Koriand'r."

"I did?"

"Yes. You may recall how, right before that slimy and misguided, but ultimately somewhat honorable, Glgrdsklechhh revealed himself in the throne room, you and Koriand'r caught sight of a handsome Tamaranean warrior and initially presumed that warrior to be her chosen groom?"

"That was you?"

"Yes. Komand'r, in her time as Grand Ruler of Tamaran, thought it would be amusing for me to allow Koriand'r to be tricked into assuming at first that I would again be her chosen suitor before ultimately revealing the true chosen groom." He rolled his eyes. "A very dirty joke that I do not at all find any pride in committing."

Robin chuckled nervously. "Well, you don't mind the fact that I'm . . . you know. . .?"

"Not at all." Karras placed his hand on Robin's shoulder in a gesture of respect. "I observed how you behaved on Tamaran during the entire business with the wedding. I've seen how you and Koriand'r look at and behave around each other. I can tell that what exists between you two is a far more genuine love that would never have existed between her and me."

"You sure you didn't have any feelings for her?"

"Positive. While I would have respected Koriand'r and treated her right like any true man should, any relationship between us would not have truly been one of love. The entire marriage to be made between us was arranged solely for political purposes. My heart was already set for another long before mine and Koriand'r's parents agreed to the intended marriage. Since I'm now currently married to my originally desired love after years of work to convince my parents, I am most certainly not going to throw all that effort away for a fleeting farce of a romance between myself and Koriand'r. Especially not after how both of us have found happiness with people we both truly love."

Robin gulped. It was clear that Karras took this matter of discussion very seriously. "That's certainly a relief." He then thought to himself. "I will admit though, I am now curious about something."

"And what would that be?"

"During Star's time on Tamaran . . . was there anyone there you know of that she may have loved in . . . that way . . . before she met me?"

Karras thought to himself. "I do not know if there was any such man on Tamaran." He hung his head. "As much as I was willing to go through with our betrothal for the sake of keeping our parents happy, I largely didn't involve myself with anything to do with Princess Koriand'r's personal life. Though all that said, it is entirely possible that she may have had her heart devoted to someone else just as much as I did."

He turned his head to face Robin. "But regardless of whether she did, I believe that you need not concern yourself with the matter. Whomever she may have loved, it is clear that she well and truly loves you. In the event that there was someone else in her life before you, I'd be patient and let her develop the courage to tell you about that person herself."

"If you say so." As he said this, he found himself guiltily thinking about his old crush on Batgirl from his time under Batman's wing.

At the sound of footsteps, the two boys looked up in time to see Starfire.

"It is time," she stated. "The Gordanians are willing to initiate the council meeting, and they have requested our presence."

. . . . .

For several minutes, none of the Titans or Tamaraneans present in the council room could hear themselves think over the noise of the multiple Gordanian delegates and nobles arguing loudly with each other. Beast Boy alone was able to get a somewhat coherent idea of what they were saying despite how loud and quickly they were speaking. From what he could hear, it was clear that Greerak's decision to grant hospitality to the planet's unexpected guests was proving quite unpopular.

"This is an outrage! An outrage!" roared one of the Gordanian nobles. He clenched his fist, slamming it down on the massive council table. "Allowing our sworn enemies from Tamaran as well as Earthlings to still be alive and in our royal palace? Unheard of! Unacceptable!"

"Unspeakable," hissed another delegate, his forked tongue slobbering with disgust. "Atrocious. A blasphemy beyond words."

"King Vraarak would never have allowed this!"

"We used to be a proud and strong race! Now we have fallen far enough to blatantly cast aside our pride and honor and break bread with the enemy! Zog have shame upon us all."

"Prince Greerak was always a difficult one to teach, but this is madness! Insanity!"

"King Vraarak would have known the right thing to do! And so would have Prince Trarak if he were still alive!"

"Death to the undesirable visitors! Death to them! Death to them! Death to them all!"

Eventually, Greerak finally lost patience with his advisors' efforts to restore order. He stood up, lifted his trident, and slammed the blunt end of it down hard on the floor next to his seat, a flash of green light going off from it in the process.

"SILENCE!"

Miraculously, the entire room went silent. After what seemed like an eternity, all the Gordanians assembled relaxed and sat at attention in their seats, some of them much more audibly grumbling than others.

As the Titans watched, Greerak took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Nobles, warriors, honorable councilmen. I call this meeting to order."

"Order," said the rest of the Gordanians.

Greerak nodded. "Just last week, we fell victim to a cowardly attack on our planet by the foul Tamaranean exile Blackfire, and an army of the living shadows of Umbrosia! Amongst the dead were my father, King Vraarak."

"Hear, hear!"

"Tonight, in the midst of mourning for my father and all the other fallen, I have allowed multiple Tamaraneans, plus four Earthlings, to be granted our generous hospitality following their being forced to land on our planet by an attack against them by these same shadows."

He folded his arms across his chest, and bowed his head. "I am aware that this is not a popular decision. Especially not after our longstanding history of enmity against Tamaran. But as impossible as you might believe it, this decision I have made to allow them our hospitality is the right one. And one that could well prove salvation for us."

The myriad detractors in the room were very quick to voice their disagreement.

Galfore slammed his own fist on the table from his own seat at the table. "ENOUGH!"

The Gordanians all fell silent, gaping at the imposing Tamaranean emperor in half shock and half grudging respect at the amount of volume he'd mustered.

"Let your king finish," said Galfore.

Greerak gave an appreciative nod in Galfore's direction, and then looked back at all the assembled nobles. "Tell me, in all our history, is it true that we have never, not once, allied ourselves or similarly associated with the Tamaraneans in any way that wasn't outright hate or warfare?"

"Never."

"Not once."

"The idea of such a thing being remotely possible is complete madness to even be considered, let alone be a reality."

Greerak raised his eyebrow. "If that is in fact the case, then explain to me," he drew out the annals scroll he'd read earlier that evening, unfurled it, and slid it across the table for the other Gordanians to read. "Why our own annals say otherwise?"

Everyone else in the room, Gordanian, Tamaranean, and Earthling alike, gaped in stunned silence at the Gordanian king. Then, one of the nobles picked up the scroll and started reading it. The noble's eyes widened. "Impossible."

Another noble scooched to his right and read the scroll over his compatriot's shoulder. "This cannot be," he said upon reading the same words.

A third noble took a look. "Lies. These are lies. It has to be."

The Gordanians all looked at their king, who shook his head.

"No. Lies, or at least mere half-truths, are what our kind has been teaching and believing about our own history for the last several centuries since the time of King Sombragor."

He gestured towards the scroll he'd produced. "This scroll, however, tells the truth of how our history _really_ unfolded. And it tells crystal clearly how our kind were once gloriously allied with the Tamaraneans."

All the Gordanians who hadn't yet read the scroll reacted in shock at this information. The titans were also understandably surprised to hear about this.

Greerak nodded his head, and gestured at his fellow nobles. "Read this scroll and understand how we too fought against the living shadows alongside the Tamaraneans and the beams of light so many years ago. Understand how we remained close allies for many years after that conflict. And understand how we, like the Tamaraneans, were alongside the living shadows and lights to watch the duel between the two Tamaranean brothers while they served as hosts to their respective gods."

The titans gaped in shock at Greerak, Beast Boy and Cyborg even dropping their jaws.

"Gods?!" they both yelled.

Starfire placed both her hands over her mouth. "By X'hal."

"Oh no, your goddess was not involved in the conflict. At least, not directly. And neither was my kind's own god Zog. But the gods worshipped by the people of Umbrosia and Phosphoria were not like Zog and X'hal. These gods, unlike our own, were more than willing to join in their worshippers' conflict personally."

He gestured for the nobles to pass the scroll. It soon ended up in front of Starfire. "Read the scroll," he requested. "And see for yourself."

Starfire took one look at the scroll, gulped, and then picked it up so she could read it.

As she did so, Greerak nodded. "You are all aware, I presume, of the White Entity?"

Robin raised his eyebrows upon hearing that title. "The energy being responsible for the White Lanterns' power?"

"The same. But what few are aware of, is how this entity is in fact only an independent small fragment that used to be part of a much larger consciousness that calls itself the Prime Entity. And this being, an entity of pure light and immeasurable power, is worshipped and revered as the god of Phosphoria and its people."

He clasped his hands together, clawed fingers intertwining. "But deep within the shadows of Umbrosia and the darkness that it holds in place, there is the Prime Entity's polar opposite and eternal enemy, the Black Entity. And this entity, worshipped by the Umbrosians as their god, is a being that the entire universe must be thankful to have no more than a tangential association with the Black Lanterns. For if it were directly involved with this corps, then all of reality could very well have come to an end before it even began."

Beast Boy gulped. "Well why didn't he do so already anyway? I mean, surely he has the power to do so?"

"The answer is explained here," said Starfire. She pointed at the part she'd reached in reading the scroll. "According to this, much like the White Entity and all the other Entities that fuel the power of the respective lanterns, the Black and Prime Entities were incapable of existing and using their powers outside their respective homes unless they took possession of a host body. And any host body they took could not be provided by an Umbrosian or Phosphorian, as either of those beings would have been too easily cancelled out by the powers of their respective opposite."

"Exactly," Greerak broke in. "And in the time of Nightfire and Dayfire, the two brothers each gave one of those Entities permission to use them as hosts. And immediately after the arrival of our kind, the two brothers finally deemed the time right to call upon their respective Entities. And from that point onward, with each Entity working in harmony with their respective hosts, they did battle."

Silence hung in the air.

"How did this battle end?" one of the Gordanian nobles asked.

Starfire took another look at the scroll, and her eyebrow rose. "The scroll. . . it looks as if parts of it got erased."

Greerak sighed. "I feared this would be the case. I was told that King Sombragor had splashed acid upon this original copy of the annals before demanding its destruction. Now I know for certain that those rumors were true." He nodded his head resignedly. "Is there anything in there present after the part where it appears to be erased?"

"Yes. It says that, through some means, the two entities ended up expelled from their hosts and sent back to their respective homes, their respective forces being forced back home alongside them." She squinted closer towards the scroll. "There are some words still present in the erased area . . . something about an eclipse of some sort . . . weakening them."

Galfore thought to himself. "That is what Tamaran had come to believe was responsible for the Umbrosians and Phosphorians departing from the battle from what little record we had of the event in our own annals. Perhaps we weren't entirely wrong about this possibility."

"Well even if that is the case," one of the Gordanian nobles began. "That still doesn't explain why we should bother to. . ." he paused, seemingly choking on the words he was about to say. He gestured towards Galfore and Starfire. "To ally ourselves with these overemotional worms!"

"Yes, why should we? What good would such a ridiculous idea do? It's not like they have the power to summon an eclipse! And that's assuming such an event truly _was_ what ended this entire mess the last time!"

"Very true," Greerak admitted. "Very true indeed. But nevertheless, we should at least try. For in the event of future battles against the living shadows, it would be wise to have some sort of allies alongside us, especially in the event that the living lights somehow get involved as well."

He lifted his head to face the two nobles who'd just now questioned the idea. "And besides, who's to say the idea of allying ourselves with Tamaran truly is such a ridiculous idea? As the annals clearly state, we did so before."

"And since we're even having this discussion right now," another noble broke in, "it obviously didn't last."

"Here, here."

"What do the annals say about that? Is there a scroll that gives an explanation?"

Greerak looked towards the advisor carrying the annals. The advisor drew out another scroll from the collection, unsheathed it, and unfurled it. "I'm afraid this scroll wasn't so lucky," he said. "It would appear that this one was completely made blank by Sombragor's acid."

The faces of everyone else in the room fell, the Gordanians even snarling in annoyance.

"Well isn't that just wonderful?!"

The noble who'd just spoken pointed a clawed finger at Galfore. "How are we to know that the 1st time we allied ourselves didn't ultimately fall apart simply on account of it being a worthless mistake?"

"How are we to know that this alliance _wasn't_ a worthless mistake?"

The noble who'd just brought up this possibility nodded his head. "You heard the advisor. The entire scroll got erased by the acid. There's Zog knows how many other potential reasons that the original alliance fell apart."

"Yeah, it could have been an honest mistake, or an overreaction!"

"Well if that's the case," another noble hissed, glaring at Starfire. "It was probably the Tamaraneans' fault."

"Oh, like we're automatically blameless," hissed another noble. He pointed at the one who'd spoken before him. "Look at _us_ idiot! It's not like we're a bunch of faultless saints! And like he said!" He pointed at Galfore. "We've always been the ones to declare war on Tamaran! Never the other way around! For all we know, the alliance falling apart could have been our fault!"

"Blasphemy!"

"Heresy!"

"Whose side are you on?!"

As all this shouting went on, all five of the titans glanced nervously at each other. Things were definitely getting tense.

"I must agree."

The noble to say that last phrase turned his head to face Greerak, a half sympathetic and half irritated look on his face. "With all due respect, I must question your judgment right now your Majesty. What you're suggesting is insane! I know that you're obviously still grieving and not in your right mind over your father's death. But you can't let such grief induced insanity allow you to make such brainless mistakes as this!"

The silence that resulted from this comment proved just as deafening as the shouting that had dominated the air beforehand. All the inhabitants stared in the direction of the one noble who'd spoken. Then they all looked at Greerak, who looked half stunned and half boiling with rage.

"Enough."

All the inhabitants turned their heads to face one elderly noble who had, up to that point, remained completely silent. This elderly noble closed his eyes, and nodded his head.

"I understand that this is not an idea that all of you are necessarily comfortable with," said the elder. "In fact, out of all of us, I had justifiable reason to hate the Tamaraneans beyond any chance of reasoning long before last week's attack. After all, it is no secret that I suspect a rogue Tamaranean to be responsible for my daughter, the queen's, death by poisoning."

He hung his head. "But now, despite this, I am able to see the sound reasoning and wisdom that so many of us simply cannot see. Maybe it's because of my many years of age and experience. Maybe it's something else entirely. But the truth, plain and simple, is that my grandson's suggestion, mystifying though it may be, is simply something we must do."

For a long while, the room was dead silent following the elderly Gordanian's words.

"Lord Valdroth," said one of the nobles. "Are you sure of this?"

Valdroth nodded. "I am as sure of this as I am old."

"But sir," said another one of the nobles. "Allying ourselves with the Tamaraneans? The very idea of it . . . is . . . is absurd." He gestured towards Starfire. "Our kind, and hers? We've been enemies . . . for so many years. And those four Earthlings alongside her? They've given us all the more extra reasons alongside the Justice League for us not to dare want to involve ourselves with anything involving Earth."

"Indeed."

Valdroth sighed. "But nonetheless, my decision is absolute."

He lifted his head. "So what if the Tamaraneans and our kind have been mutual enemies for Zog knows how many years now? Our kind could easily say the same thing before the last time we allied ourselves together. Would this time be any different from the first time?"

The other Gordanian nobles all thought to themselves. Even Galfore and the titans couldn't help but discreetly nod. Valdroth had brought up a valid point.

"As for the four Earthlings amongst us." He pointed at the other four titans. "If what I've heard about them from the accounts of Yarboth, Garzvohg, and the late Trogaar are in fact true, then they and the Tamaranean princess have proven credible warriors in their own right. Much like you've said, these younglings have given us just as much valid reason to be wary of Earth as the warriors of the Justice League. And at the rate things are going, _any_ seasoned warriors would be a wise asset for us to have, regardless of age or species."

Upon hearing this, all the Gordanians in the room looked thoughtful. Except, that is, for the now very angry one who'd conveniently gotten the room silenced in time for Valdroth to speak.

"But, Valdroth," said one of the thoughtful looking Gordanian nobles. "We've been conditioned for so long to hate the Tamaraneans and view them as nothing more than our sworn enemies. Is it even remotely possible for us to work together? Especially after how the last time failed to last?"

"That is a question that, for all our sakes, we can only hope will be answered with a yes."

Valdroth clenched his fists, a determined look coming into his dull orange eyes. "As some wise being once said, only idiots would battle each other mindlessly in a burning house. As much as some of you may hate to admit it, the first embers have already been cast. Unless the living shadows are somehow halted within the near future, then the entire universe could be reduced to a metaphorical burning house. So answer me this, would it be more foolish for us to work side by side with one of our supposed enemies? Or to continue mindlessly fighting each other while too blinded by years of hatred and enmity to see how there is a more threatening common enemy out to destroy us both?"

Valdroth nodded his head. "It has been said that the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend." He directed his glance at the titans. "Therefore," he looked to Greerak. "I, Valdroth, say yes to my grandson's suggestion."

For a long while, all the other Gordanian nobles, bar the one angry looking one, looked at each other, uncertain as to what to say. Then, one of them finally seemed to come to a decision, and he stood up.

"I, Sindraar, say yes."

This second statement of approval seemed to prompt another noble to stand up and give approval, followed by another, and another, and another. In the end, much to the titans' shock and Galfore's hidden relief, all but one of the nobles ultimately stood up and added their approving voices. Some of them, naturally, were more reluctant than others. But nonetheless, it was now clear that there was almost a complete unanimous vote of approval now for this apparent old alliance between Gordania and Tamaran to be reborn.

The one Gordanian who still hadn't yet approved snarled, and finally stood up himself. He, however, was most definitely not about to add his voice in approval.

"You're mad!" he roared. "All of you are mad!" He pointed at Greerak. "I could definitely understand this upstart whelp considering saying yes to this mindlessness." He pointed at Valdroth. "And I could similarly understand such madness being agreed to by this brainless and senile fool!" He gestured his arms towards all the other nobles who'd stood and voiced their approval before him. "But from all of you?! Where are all the sensible and honorable Gordanian warriors that you've now taken the place of?"

He gestured towards Galfore and the titans. "Allying ourselves with those weakling vermin Tamaraneans?! And these four pathetic and impossibly lucky Earthling whelps?! The idea alone is absurd! Unthinkable! An abomination to all of Zog's teachings!" He shook his head violently, slamming his fists and tail in rage. "Such a hopeless and pathetic waste of brain power will never work! It already failed once before when only the Tamaraneans were the ones we were supposedly allied to! There is no way it would work now any more than it ever has!"

He directed a venomous glare towards the titans, his fists clenched and his forked tongue sticking out of his mouth as he hissed like a snake. "You will be the death of us worms. Nothing good has ever come from dealing with your kind! And nothing good ever will!"

"You have any better ideas Ulragor?"

Ulragor and the rest of the room's occupants turned their heads to the noble who'd just now spoken.

"Well? Do you?"

The other noble pointed at Valdroth. "Like Valdroth said, both our worlds are under threat of destruction! We are the only ones aware of the crisis so far who could potentially stop it!" He slammed his fist on the table. "And as much as this idea may not agree with many of us, it's better than nothing!" He pointed at Ulragor. "If you have any better ideas, say them now! Because I, for one, would much rather work alongside the Tamaraneans and live then keep having us fight each other and be killed by the Umbrosians!"

Much to the titans' relief, all the other nobles apart from Ulragor promptly started shouting and hissing in agreement.

Ulragor glowered at his countryman, steaming with rage. "Well unlike all of you, _I_ care about my honor!" He clenched his fists. "So you're all going to take the coward's way out? Fine. Go ahead! But me? I'm going to do things the right way! And if I die because of this, so be it! For unlike all of you, I'd rather die with my pride and honor intact then shamefully cast it aside and drag our planet's good name into the ground just to save my own scaly hide!"

He stood from his seat, flapping his wings and clenching his hands around his staff. "It is clear that this miserable gathering of fools isn't worth my time! I am leaving! You can forget about having the forces of my city state around to help you! And when this brainless idea inevitably goes down in flames alongside all of us following the humiliating defeat you're obviously welcoming with open arms, don't bother coming to cry to me and beg for my assistance!"

He flew over the table, landing right in front of the doors to the council room. The two soldiers standing to the sides ran over to try to stop him. Ulragor knocked the first one aside with a swing of his right arm, and sent the second one flying backward with a swing of his tail. He slammed his staff against the doors, sending them flying open, and stormed out, hissing with fury while flapping his wings and swinging his tail.

The titans, Galfore, and the Gordanians all gaped in the direction of the doors.

"Well, he certainly took this with grace," Raven droned.

Greerak hissed, and then spat in the direction of the doors. "Leave him be. If he wishes to stay stuck in the past, so be it."

He stood up, his hands raised as he spoke to the assembled nobles. "But let us not allow Ulragor's shallow mindedness to weigh us down! Tonight marks a new era! Tonight, this latest conquest of the living shadows finally shall consider its days numbered! Tonight, the old alliance between Gordanians and Tamaraneans shall be reborn! And we have the former slave princess of Tamaran and her four allies from Earth to thank for it!"

He looked to Galfore. "Emperor Galfore of Tamaran. As King of Gordania, I ask you, do you accept our offer to renew our kind's old alliance?"

"I do."

Greerak turned his head to face Starfire. "Koriand'r," he said, his tone indicating a clear sense of respect. "As former crown princess of Tamaran and the one who indirectly allowed this renewal to be possible, I ask you, do _you_ accept our offer to renew our kind's old alliance?"

Starfire thought to herself, half accepting of the idea and half bewildered still over the knowledge of how this alliance had even existed in the first place. But then she saw her friends nodding in approval behind her, and her decision was made. She stood from her seat, walked over to where Greerak was standing, and extended her hand towards him. "I accept."

The rest of the occupants looked to Greerak, who smiled. "Then let it be seen, let it be spoken, and let it be written! Tonight, the old alliance is reborn!" He clasped Starfire's extended hand with his own, the two teenage royals instantly engaging in a respectful handshake.

The handshake finished, Greerak turned to face his fellow countrymen. "From the ashes of my father's death, hope has been reborn for us all!" He lifted his hands. "This meeting is adjourned! Let us prepare ourselves for the war that is certain to come! Following that, let us celebrate the dawn of a new era; where with the defeat of the living shadows, all of us, Tamaranean, Gordanian, and Earthling alike shall engage in a great and glorious new future of friendship!"

The rest of the Gordanians rose from their chairs, raised their fists, and cheered triumphantly in agreement. Galfore nodded his head, and the titans all welcomed Starfire back amongst them in open arms, with all five of the teenage heroes feeling happy and proud of Starfire. Hope had indeed arisen from the ashes of an otherwise hopeless situation. Once again, they stood a chance at defeating the Umbrosians and saving the universe. And unexpected as it was, they now also had a well-deserved group of strong allies both willing and more than capable of helping them do it.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I certainly hope you all like this one. Though admittedly, if anyone feels as if I had the titans themselves overly sidelined this chapter compared to the Gordanians, then I apologize in advance. All that said, I especially hope you like the outcome of this council meeting, the reveals that were made, and Robin's little talk with Karras to occur before this council meeting. And all that said, I again hope you read, enjoyed, and leave plenty of feedback (remember, no less then 2 reviews are required for this chapter before the next one to be finished and approved can be posted). Again, hope you all had fun!**

 **Coming up next: In the time left before Blackfire and the Umbrosians initiate their planned 2nd attack on Gordania, the titans prove able to have a meeting with a being more than willing to allow himself and his forces to spread a little extra light . . . maybe a little TOO MUCH extra light . . . on the coming battles.**


	10. Seeing the Light

**Hello everyone! Hope you're ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, with just a tiny bit of extra time left before Blackfire and her nefarious cohorts initiate their 2nd attack on Gordania, the titans have a meeting with a being who is more than willing to shed extra light . . . maybe a little TOO MUCH extra light . . . on the upcoming trials. Sound fun? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: Just so you're reminded, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. The only things I DO own are the Umbrosians . . . and a certain rival race of the Umbrosians that finally get a physical introduction in this chapter. All that said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 9:**

 **Seeing the Light**

"You are certain the preparations can't be finished any sooner?"

The lowly underling nodded his head. "I'm afraid I am my lord." He gestured towards the chasm behind him where countless other Umbrosians were hard at work. "We've been working tirelessly ever since the celebrations last night came to an end. But I'm afraid that the earliest we'll be ready to set off for the attack on Gordania will be tomorrow morning."

Nolfavrel sighed. "I see. Don't let us be delayed to any later then tomorrow."

"Understood."

"Good. Now get back to work."

The underling shuffled off hurriedly back into the chasm to resume his duties.

"Things aren't quite going to plan I see."

Nolfavrel turned his head, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of a smug looking Cometbolt standing alongside an annoyed looking Blackfire. The white-haired Tamaranean chuckled, and folded his arms across his chest. "Setbacks like this can truly be annoying." He reached into his sack. "I could help speed things along if you want."

"That will not be necessary Cometbolt," said Blackfire. "We have no need to submit our own allies to mind control. Besides, we need to save that device for if my sister is in fact alive so that you can use it for your proposed alternate suggestion."

Cometbolt lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I understand," he said. "Just felt like offering."

Nolfavrel rolled his eyes. "Is there any other way you could make yourself useful right now?"

Cometbolt thought to himself. "I could probably go oversee the weapon repairs and ship preparations."

"You do that," said Blackfire.

Cometbolt bowed respectfully to Blackfire, and then flew off to get to work. No sooner was he gone when Blackfire turned her head to face Nolfavrel, an irritated look on her face. "I am already starting to wonder if I made the right choice in letting him join up with us."

Nolfavrel raised his eyebrow. "Already? I'm impressed."

Blackfire rolled her eyes upon hearing this sarcastic remark from the Umbrosian leader. Nevertheless, it was very darkly impressive just how much she was already regretting saying yes to Cometbolt joining forces with her.

As she had found out the hard way after the previous night's celebrations had ended, Cometbolt's prior position as a general in the Tamaranean army had left him far from prepared or willing to take orders. He had also proven very impatient, self-centered, and arrogant as a result of both his time as general and the memories of his more 'heroic and valiant' days. Needless to say, he was proving a royal pain to work with.

"Don't even get me started on that one power of his that allows him to be three times as annoying. If he and you weren't so insistent on the possibility of my sister still being alive, I'd have asked you to have him fed to your god hours ago."

"In the unlikely event that your sister and her companions are indeed dead, I shall arrange for exactly that."

Nolfavrel sighed, and shook his head. "As unlikely as it is though, part of me still hopes that maybe your delusional hope is in fact a reality. Not only would that mean that I'd get to feed that upstart kinsman of yours to the almighty, but it would also mean that there'd be no one around to appropriately serve as host to the almighty's eternal enemy."

. . . . .

"I still can't believe this is happening."

"Believe it Beast Boy. It's happening."

The two chromatically challenged titans shook their heads, still quite bemused at everything that had gone down the previous night.

"It's certainly not every day that we find ourselves teaming up with our enemies," said Beast Boy.

"And here I was thinking Robin was the one who constantly saw things in black and white."

Beast Boy and Raven turned their heads in time to see Cyborg standing nearby. The half robot nodded his head. "I'll still admit though, out of all the possibilities that could have unfolded, forming an alliance with the Gordanians was definitely not something that I considered possible."

He walked over and sat down next to the chromatically challenged duo. "I probably shouldn't be so surprised though. Considering the universe we live in, surprises like this really aren't so surprising."

"That's an understatement."

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven turned their heads in time to see Robin and Starfire walking towards them hand-in-hand. Robin nodded his head. "You'd think that we'd all be used to that fact. But nope, even to this day, despite having done battle with concrete golems, sentient ooze, dragons, and even literal demons, people like us are still surprised by such minor things as joining forces with a race of enemy aliens."

Starfire promptly raced her eyebrow teasingly. "I presume you wouldn't lump all aliens in this category?"

Robin chuckled, and squeezed Starfire's hand. "Don't worry Starfire. I already know that Superman and the other aliens on the Justice League can be trusted." He looked straight at her, a smile on his face. "And of course, there's you and your people."

Starfire giggled. "Well I'm glad you're smart enough to know that."

"Get a room," Raven droned.

Beast Boy and Cyborg chuckled, and Robin glared.

Starfire giggled, let go of Robin's hand, and flew over to join her friends.

"So," said Cyborg. "What's the status?"

"Things are looking the good friend. Even now, my people and the Gordanians alike are working without tires to make sure they are as the absolutely prepared as can be possible."

The other titans raised their eyebrows.

"You mean tirelessly," said Beast Boy.

"Is that not what I said?"

"I still hope it will be enough."

The other titans looked to Robin.

"How could it not?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah man," said Cyborg. "We've got all our skills, plus the combined might of Tamaran and Gordania."

Cyborg had a point. Not only had the old alliance between Tamaran and Gordania been reforged, but the Gordanians had even allowed Galfore to repair the technology on the royal Tamaranean starship that would allow him to contact Tamaran so that they could send sufficient reinforcements that could potentially arrive as early as that very afternoon. All in all, they were shaping up to have a sizable army on their side against Blackfire and the Umbrosians.

"I'm still not sure if that's enough." Robin sighed. "I don't know why, but I can't help but feel like we're still missing an extra edge."

"What more edge could we need?" Beast Boy asked.

"Perhaps a little extra light against the darkness is what your leader feels is still needed?"

The titans turned their heads in time to see Greerak lounging on a nearby bench.

"Your majesty," said Starfire, bowing slightly. "Forgive us. We did not realize you were here."

"Think nothing of it," said the young Gordanian king. "And please, just Greerak is fine . . . for you anyway."

Greerak straightened into a sitting position, his legs dangling over the ground beneath the bench. "Nevertheless, what I suggested, is that indeed what you currently believe needed, Warbird?"

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Warbird?"

"Your consort tells me that you are named after a native Earth bird. Presumably, for a warrior such as yourself, you have chosen a truly magnificent and vicious bird to name yourself after. Hence, the title 'Warbird'."

Beast Boy and Cyborg sniggered upon hearing Starfire get referred to as Robin's consort, as well as the hilariously inaccurate assumption Greerak had made about the specific bird Robin was named for. The boy wonder, however, couldn't help but think to himself about the explanation he'd just received for his new nickname.

"Warbird." He folded his arms across his chest, an approving look on his face as he nodded. "I like the sound of that."

"Don't expect us to start calling you that," said Raven.

Robin glared at the sorceress.

"Your answer, Warbird?"

Robin faced Greerak. "Well . . . in a way, yes. Why?"

"I was hoping you'd answer with a yes." Greerak rose from the bench and gestured for the titans to follow him. "Come. There is something that I believe you'd best be shown."

. . . . .

The titans narrowed their eyes in curiosity at the two strange jagged crystals resting upon a plinth in the center of the room they'd just been escorted to. "What the heck are these?" Beast Boy asked.

"A pair of crystals that, depending on which one you access the power of, can either spell the universe's salvation, or its doom."

Greerak pointed at the ominous black crystal on the left side of the plinth. "This crystal, when called upon, will open a portal straight to the realm of the living shadows."

He pointed at the dazzling white crystal opposite the black crystal. "This crystal, however, will allow the creation of a gate to the realm of the living lights." He picked up the white crystal, extending it towards Starfire. "This crystal, I believe, would be most useful."

"You want us to go to Phosphoria?" Starfire asked. "And ask the living lights to aid us like they did last time?"

Greerak nodded his head. "Yes."

Starfire looked to her friends. Raven raised her eyebrow at Greerak.

"How is it you have these in your possession?"

"After Nightfire's execution, his crystal key to Umbrosia was confiscated. And in the end, it was decided that my kin would be the most appropriate guardians to keep watch over both it, and the key to Phosphoria. And with the living shadows now once again on the verge of attempting galactic conquest, that decision has proven very fortunate indeed."

He extended the crystal towards Starfire once more. "Please, take it."

Starfire thought to herself, uncertain what to say.

Her fellow titans were similarly uncertain on what the best answer was.

"I say do it," said Beast Boy. "Robin was feeling the need for more soldiers, and you've gotta admit, the Phosphorians certainly would make ideal reinforcements. After all, they are the Umbrosians' natural enemies."

"I have to agree," said Cyborg. "Like Robin said, we could really use some extra firepower to go with our current alliance roster. Besides, they were allies alongside the Tamaraneans and Gordanians against the Umbrosians the last time. I'm sure they'd be willing to fight alongside us against their sworn enemies a 2nd time."

"Doesn't mean they should," said Raven. "Don't you remember what Galfore said? They may be natural enemies to the Umbrosians, but they're also supposedly fanatics who wish to purge the entire universe of _all_ darkness, including the safe kind. I don't know about you, but I don't know if that's the kind of thing we want to actively risk causing."

"As much as I was afraid we didn't have enough, I'm afraid I have to agree with Raven." Robin sighed. "The Umbrosians may be a significant galaxy ending threat, but I can't entirely say that getting the Phosphorians involved will necessarily be any better. Like Raven and Galfore said, they're apparently more than a little _too_ obsessed with ridding the universe of darkness. Judging by that, _and_ what I've heard about the White Entity, I highly doubt that this Prime Entity that they worship will be any more appealing to work with in the long run."

"Friends, please, you are not helping."

The other titans gulped, and held their tongues.

Starfire took a deep breath, her eyes closed as she thought to herself. She looked at her friends, then at the crystal in Greerak's hands, then at her friends, and then at the crystal again. She sighed, and hung her head. "I've thought carefully." She lifted her head, extending her hand towards the crystal in the process. She grabbed onto it, lifting it towards her face. "And my decision is yes."

Robin narrowed his eyes warily. "Star?" he asked. "Are you sure that this is what you want? We could yet find a different species to ally ourselves with . . ."

"Against a literal god?"

This comment from Starfire stopped the boy wonder cold.

The Tamaranean princess directed a solemn look in her boyfriend's direction. "Think about it. Knowing my sister, do you truly believe that she'd say no to letting herself be the host for this Black Entity that the Umbrosians worship?"

Robin and the other titans all thought to themselves. Starfire had now brought up a very valid point.

"I had not thought about this matter earlier in the garden, but the sight of these crystals has now reminded me of how it is nonetheless true. We may have our own skill, and the combined might of Tamaran and Gordania, but you are all to correct Robin to want more on our side. For truly, what good is what we currently have against an army that has a god on its side?"

The other titans looked each other in the eyes, uncertain how to respond. Even Raven couldn't think of a proper response. For despite being the daughter of a demon with virtually god-like power, she was nonetheless only the daughter of a demon. And from a logical standpoint, a demon, even one as powerful as Trigon, would almost certainly be a considerable step below an actual god.

Starfire nodded, a clear 'I rest my case' message in the gesture. "And in the event that Blackfire has already said yes to serving as the Black Entity's vessel, we would almost certainly stand very little, if any, chance of success against her when she joins the battle personally." She stared at the crystal. "Unless, just maybe, we ourselves also had a god's help. For even in the unlikely event that she hasn't yet said yes to possession by the Black Entity, it surely couldn't hurt to see if the Phosphorians and this Prime Entity are at least willing to potentially aid us. As has been made clear, the Umbrosians are just as much their enemies as they are ours."

The other titans, particularly Robin and Raven, thought carefully to themselves, and then nodded.

"Alright," said Robin. "We'll at least have a meeting with them. But for all our sakes, whatever final decision gets made, please be cautious about it."

"Fear not Robin," Starfire said. "I will." She looked to Greerak, the crystal clutched tightly in her grasp. "I am ready."

The Gordanian ruler nodded, drew out a small scroll from a hole within the plinth's side, and handed it to Starfire. "Upon this scroll are the words you must say to open the gate."

Starfire opened the scroll, reading it in her left hand while still holding the crystal in her right hand. "Bright One," she began. "Eternal night approaches. Let me come to you, King of the Light, in my hour of need."

The crystal glowed, and then suddenly fired a beam of light from its tip towards the ceiling.

Greerak and the titans jumped back in shock, Starfire even letting go of the crystal in the process. Surprisingly enough, the stone remained hovering in the air, still glowing and firing the beam from its tip. The glowing gradually became brighter and brighter until the entire crystal itself merged with the glow and expanded into a giant vortex of brilliant white light.

As the six occupants of the room gazed at this vortex, a harsh booming voice shouted from within, "ENTER, ONE WHO CALLS ME! I HAVE HEARD YOU, AND SHALL HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!"

Starfire paused, and looked to her fellow titans, who nodded, and gestured for her to go.

"AND BRING YOUR FOUR COMPANIONS WITH YOU!" the voice bellowed. "THEY HAVE NEED TO HEAR WHAT I HAVE TO SAY JUST AS MUCH AS YOU!"

The other titans shrugged, and looked to Greerak alongside Starfire. The Gordanian ruler nodded, and gestured for them to go ahead. The titans all took a deep breath, and then walked through the glowing vortex to enter Phosphoria.

. . . . .

Upon entry, the five teen heroes instantly reared back, lifted their hands, and closed their eyes in discomfort upon getting full exposure to the VERY bright light that now surrounded them. Beast Boy even hissed in pain, turned into a tortoise, and curled up into his shell in an effort to escape.

An irritated groan split the air. "BY THE UNIVERSE, REALLY?!"

The titans all opened their eyes, Beast Boy even very reluctantly sticking his head out of his shell, as they tried their best to see through the impossibly bright light to find whoever was speaking.

"OH ALRIGHT," the voice boomed. "I SUPPOSE I SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED THIS! ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING HOW YOUR PREDECESSOR KEVAND'R AND HIS ENTOURAGE COULDN'T HANDLE IT EITHER!"

The titans heard what sounded like a pair of giant wings flapping thrice, and the brightness of the light dimmed down to a more manageable level.

Once the titans adjusted, and Beast Boy had reverted back to human form, they were able to see that they were in what looked like a bright white room. The room itself, Beast Boy couldn't help but notice would not have looked out of place in Castle Oblivion from the Kingdom Hearts video games. At the same time, it also had elements of a Greek or Roman temple. In the very center of the room was a giant circular plinth that could have easily been replaced with a brazier. Surrounding this plinth was a mass swarm of humanoid light beings that resembled tall white cloaks, but also had what seemed like wings of bright light and crested bird-like heads in the place of 'hoods', complete with brilliant glowing blue eyes. But it was the being standing upon the plinth that truly grabbed the titans' attention.

This being, for lack of a better term, looked magnificent. Like the smaller beings surrounding it, it was made entirely out of white light. But instead of a cloak, it looked more similar in shape to a winged serpent. With the exception of its neck and the entirety of its upper body, its snake-like body was coiled up upon the plinth, with its arrow-head spiked tail lying over the edge. It had a massive pair of white bird-like wings spread out and dangling high above the ground attached to the very center of its body. Its head, meanwhile, in contrast to the bird-like heads of the smaller figures, had a head that more closely resembled that of a stereotypical stylized pteranodon with a serrated beak. It's glowing blue eyes, however, apart from being considerably bigger and brighter, were exactly like the ones on the multiple smaller beings gathered on the floor around it.

The titans all gulped, gaping in awe at the awe inspiring being. If there had been any doubt before, it was shattered beyond repair now. This being was truly the Prime Entity. So focused were they on the Entity that they completely failed to notice the vortex from which they'd entered close and vanish.

The Entity nodded approvingly at the sight of the titans gazing at it in awe. "Yes, very impressive indeed."

It stared straight at Starfire. "Welcome Koriand'r of Tamaran. It is an honor to have you in my presence upon Phosphoria." It gestured towards the Phosphorians gathered around it. "My devoted followers. Please, leave while I discuss business with our guests."

The Phosphorians bowed. "As you wish Almighty." They started glowing, eventually transforming into increasingly bright flashes of light. And once the single giant flash of light they'd all transformed into vanished, the titans and Prime Entity were the only ones left present in the room.

The Entity nodded, warbling curtly, and positioned its wings as if about to use them for walking. "Confirm to me, Koriand'r, why you have come."

Starfire looked to her friends, who nodded. She gulped, turned her head to face the Entity, and took a deep breath.

"Forgive me if I have disturbed you." She bowed. "You may yet already be aware of this. But the Umbrosians are once again on the move, and wish to try again to spread their eternal darkness across the entire universe; and my sister Komand'r is leading them alongside their own foul deity."

The Prime Entity nodded, warbling noncommittally. "I suspected as much. Let me guess, you wish to ask for my aid, and that of my followers, just like your predecessor Kevand'r did for his conflict against the Umbrosians and his own brother Gomerand'r?"

Starfire hung her head. "Yes," she confirmed. "That is indeed the case."

"Just as I suspected. It's been so many years now since last time, and my followers and I have been waiting for this moment to finally come once more. To have confirmation of our enemies finally daring to come slinking out of their hiding place once more is truly splendid."

It reared upward, lifted its head to face the ceiling, and rapidly flapped its wings, drumming up such strong winds that the titans were forced to shield their faces with their arms and lean forward to prevent themselves from being blown backwards off their feet. Beast Boy even ended up forced to turn into a woolly mammoth when just leaning forward in human form turned out to not be enough.

The Entity finally finished flapping its wings and resumed its earlier position. "Say no more. I may not be pleased with how abruptly and unsatisfyingly my previous partnership with Kevand'r came to an end. But I will nonetheless provide you with aid." It nodded its head. "I shall spread the news of your request for aid to the Phosphorian council, and they in turn shall spread it to Phosphoria's soldiers. This time, we shall together finish what was started last time. Together we shall vanquish all the Umbrosians as well as their foul pretender that dares to call himself my equal in Godhood, and your vile sister shall die with them."

Starfire hung her head and wrung her hands, and the other titans raised their eyebrows. They'd already been starting to feel like the Prime Entity appeared more than a little _too_ eager to accept Starfire's request for aid. But the fact that he now wished to kill Blackfire as well as the Umbrosians and the Black Entity only confirmed how difficult this was going to be.

The Prime Entity raised its own 'eyebrow'. "Is there a problem?"

Starfire sighed. "Forgive me, but I can't help but wonder . . . is killing my sister truly necessary?"

There was a pause. A rather uncomfortably long pause. Then the Prime Entity's eyes narrowed. "It appears that history continues to repeat itself today."

"What do you mean?"

"Is it not obvious? Much like you now show doubt on the merits of you and I killing your sister alongside the foul shadows she dares to work with, your predecessor Kevand'r similarly wished to find a way to avoid killing Gomerand'r in combat like I suggested."

"Why is that a problem?"

"Is the answer not clear?"

The Entity leaned forward, its blue eyes on the verge of literally blazing. "Twice now you have allowed her to live with a smack upon the wrist, even after finding out about her being responsible for truly despicable actions. Both times, she has come back to haunt you once again with something worse and even more morally reprehensible then last time. But this time, as a direct result of how you chose to handle her previous transgressions, she is now at risk of casting the entire universe into an eternal night so dark that not even my own light would be enough to pierce it. And yet, despite even that, you still wish to let her live?"

The Entity shook its head, hissing hatefully. "I am sorry Koriand'r. But the alternative you ask of me will only be yet another exercise in futility. You have allowed your sister twice a chance to accept the error of her ways and reform; and both times she has rewarded your good will by throwing it in your face. Once is forgivable. Twice is still at least halfway reasonable. But thrice? No. Your sister has had her chance, and she's blown it more times now than she ever should have been allowed. Lest the entire universe gets cast into the oblivion of eternal darkness, this naïve belief you have that she can still yet change her ways must stop. will not mince words. Your sister must die."

"No!" Starfire yelled, her eyes and fists glowing with star bolt energy. "I don't believe that! I can't believe that! I won't!"

"You will. It may take time yes, but in the end, once the entire universe is bathed in the glory and paradise of eternal light and eternal virtue without so much as a speck of darkness that my power will bring with the death of your sister and the forces she now aligns herself with, you will come in time to thank me."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "So you _do_ wish to purge the universe of all forms of darkness."

"And what would be wrong with that?"

The Entity turned its head to face Robin and the other titans. "You are certainly aware of the various problems that even now continue to plague your planet as well as countless others across the universe thanks to the darkness, villainy, and sin that still continue to exist within it. But think about a universe where all that was no more. A paradise where nothing but virtue, heroism, and light reign supreme without so much as a single ounce of any vice, villainy, or darkness present to say otherwise. Tell me, how it could be at all possible that the universe would not desire such a paradise, and the embrace of eternal light with it!"

"You're wrong," said Raven. She stepped forward to stand next to Starfire. "You may not understand it, especially considering how you're literally nothing but light, but darkness is not inherently evil. In the right individuals, and the right circumstances, there is some good in darkness."

"You may think so," said the Entity. "But try telling that to the rest of the universe. Especially the parts that have suffered because of the same Tamaranean that Koriand'r even now naïvely wishes to spare. Or because of the countless other beings, monsters, and similar agents of darkness that you and countless other so called 'heroes' have continued to allow to live more times than a measly three."

"That's enough," Robin yelled.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "Who are you to call us 'so called'? The five of us? And all those other heroes you just dismissed? We've all saved our home world, countless others, _and_ the entire universe so many times even the various gods don't know for sure how many times! That's certainly more than you can say!"

"And yet," the Prime Entity responded, impossibly calmly all things considered, "the universe even now still suffers for your supposedly saving it."

It gestured with its left wing. "Think about all the villains and monsters that even now still continue to run around and cause the universe to suffer even after all the previous times they've been halted in their tracks! Think of the multiple newly born and active ones that continue to sprout up into existence to join those others already at work! Think about how much better the universe would be, or how much suffering could be prevented, if someone had the decency to put a stop to it all before it could even happen!" It slammed its left wing back on the floor, rearing up in the process. "You and all those other heroes have never saved a thing! They never have, and they never will! All they've ever done at the rate they're currently going is to prolong the agony the entire universe must suffer while it waits for the eventual destined day that the very paradise I speak of finally comes from a source far slower than myself."

It leaned forward. "Think about this, suppose you came upon a situation where legitimately the only way to prevent complete world ending catastrophe was to kill a specific person. No really, think about it! Such a scenario isn't nearly as impossible as any art or culture would have you believe! What if killing that one specific person was truly the only way to save the world? Or even the whole universe? Would you heartlessly sacrifice the entire universe, including both yourselves _and_ the very person you wanted to spare, just to avoid getting any blood on your hands? Be honest with me now! Would you?!"

The titans all looked each other in the eyes nervously, quite uncertain on how to respond. They had no desire to kill Blackfire, let alone completely abandon their principals. But at the same time, what sort of heroes would they be to say yes to the kind of suggestion that the Prime Entity had brought up?

The Entity nodded. "I take it by your silence that I have made a very good point indeed. Why? Because I speak the truth. Admit it titans. In this battle of principals, you've lost." It flapped its wings once more, but this time much less forcefully than before. "Multiple others wiser than you have said it best. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Cyborg narrowed his human eye, and he directed a side glance at Robin and Beast Boy. "I can certainly see where the White Entity gets his winning personality."

The Prime Entity directed its gaze towards Cyborg, its eyes blazing. A giant pillar of white light erupted from the floor directly in front of Cyborg's feet. The half robot jumped back in fright, an emasculating shriek erupting from his mouth in the process. The other four titans similarly reared away in surprise, Beast Boy even turning into a cat and jumping on Raven and wrapping his legs around her neck and face for good measure.

"I allowed you, the other two Earthlings, and the Azarathian, to accompany Koriand'r on my own good will, robot." It extended its head closer towards the group. "You'd be wise to _not_ test my patience."

It directed its gaze back towards Starfire. "Koriand'r, answer me this, what is more important to you? The life of that heartless monster you call a sister? Or the lives of yourself, your friends, and the countless other innocent beings throughout the universe who will be forced to suffer an impossible magnitude if you don't have the guts to permanently stop your sister and the Umbrosians in their tracks?"

Starfire stayed silent for a while, the other titans not daring to say anything. "I . . . I don't know. What you're asking . . . it goes against everything my friends and I have believed in for so many years now."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"I do. I really do, it's just that. . ." Starfire paused. "May I suggest a compromise?"

"Explain."

"I do want your help, and I also want your followers to help as well. But what you're asking of me and my friends. Well, surely you can understand how big of a change you're asking of us. I do believe I'll need just a tiny amount of time to further think. But nevertheless, perhaps, can I at least try to defeat my sister and her forces without direct aid from you and your followers, but still have the ability to at least call upon you and your forces just in case?"

The Prime Entity allowed an uncomfortably long pause to unfold before finally responding. "History repeats itself once more. I'm not sure I like it." It nodded its head. "But nonetheless, I will allow it."

It lifted its left wing, a small orb of light materializing at the tip. This light faded away, revealing a marble-sized white crystal orb, which it lowered to within Starfire's reach. "At the time you deem it necessary for me to aid you, call upon me with that orb, and I shall come to claim you as my vessel. Once we have bonded, we shall fight together against your sister and my eternal enemy the Black Entity. The words you will need to say shall be branded into your memory upon departure from this planet."

Starfire grabbed onto the orb, gingerly taking it from the Entity's outstretched wing, and then placed it into one of her skirt pockets. She bowed her head. "Thank you Celestial One. It has been an honor to be in your presence."

"You are most welcome, Koriand'r of Tamaran." The Entity nodded its head. "Expect my soldiers and I to arrive as soon as you've called. Farewell."

The titans nodded, and the entity summoned the same vortex that they'd used to enter back into existence. The titans turned and began to walk towards it. Right as they were all about to enter, however, the Entity proved itself to have a final few words to say.

"But be warned," said the Entity. "As much as you may hope otherwise, the time _will_ come that you will find yourself needing Phosphoria's direct aid and calling upon me."

The titans paused.

"I will . . . take your word for it," said Starfire. She shook her head. "Come friends."

The titans departed from Phosphoria, the portal closing behind them immediately after they'd vanished through to Gordania.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I really hope you read and enjoy this chapter! I especially hope you like the newly physically introduced Phosphorians . . . especially the Prime Entity. Me personally, I feel like I really nailed my intended personality of him being a case of 'good is not nice' without straying into making him sound too much like a villain. But if you think I didn't do as good of a job as I think I did (or any opinion you have on the matter really), feel free to let me know. And all that said, I really do hope you all leave plenty of (NONFLAME PEOPLE!) feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I can allow the next completed and appropriately edited chapter to be posted. Get it? Got it? Good. Again, hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Coming up next: The time has come for the Titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians to fight their first battle together against the Umbrosian forces. How shall they fare? Find out next chapter!**


	11. The Battle for Gordania

**Hey everybody! Hope you're ready for yet more Teen Titans fanfiction from me, because here comes yet another chapter of my work! In this new chapter, the battle for Gordania has come. Who shall prevail? Read on and find out ladies and gentlemen!**

 **A/N: But first, I'd best remind you that, with the exception of the Umbrosians, I own NONE of the elements in here that are Teen Titans-based or DC-based. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 10:**

 **The Battle for Gordania**

The very next day, all five of the titans were watching the Gordanian night sky from a balcony of the palace, eyes open for any signs of Umbrosian invaders. So far, the sky was empty. But the titans knew all to well that this could yet change.

Beast Boy glanced down at the mass gathering of Tamaraneans and Gordanians, as well as their respective ships, that was present on the ground in front of the palace. "They certainly look prepared."

Robin looked to Starfire. "You sure this is the night?"

Starfire nodded. "I am certain. The Gordanians are convinced in the accuracy of what their instincts tell them, and their instincts say that Blackfire and the Umbrosian council _will_ have their forces attack Gordania tonight. Since they are now working alongside us as our allies in combat for the first time in centuries, it would only be polite and respectful to trust them and their instincts for this battle."

"Let's just hope that they truly do prove trustworthy in this battle," Cyborg grumbled.

"I hear you dude," said Beast Boy. He directed a side glance at Starfire's skirt pocket. "Not to mention that it doesn't prove necessary for you to use that doodad you have in there to call upon Lord Lightshow and his goons."

Starfire sighed, placed her hand in her pocket, and stroked the summoning marble with her fingertips. "I hope just as much as you that I won't need his direct aid in this battle."

"That certainly sounds reassuring," said Raven.

At the sound of footsteps behind them, the titans turned their heads in time to see none other than Greerak and Galfore approaching them. At the sight of the five teens hurrying to stand at attention, Greerak held his hand up in a 'stop' gesture. "At ease."

The titans relaxed. "Is there something you want to tell us?" Robin asked.

Greerak looked to Galfore, who nodded. The Gordanian king looked back at the titans.

"Kodiand'r," said Greerak. "Your old caretaker and I have had a talk, and we've come to a decision on what might prove a useful surprise for us to use in the coming battle."

The titans looked to each other, and then back at the two rulers. "We're listening," said Starfire.

"Knowing how arrogant Blackfire is," Galfore began, "it is logical for us to believe that she now assumes you, your friends, and your. . ." He took a deep breath. "Consort as King Greerak so delightfully put it." The teenage Gordanian grinned cheekily. "Are dead."

"Indeed." Starfire nodded. "No doubt, she will be most surprised when our ship is sighted fighting alongside everyone else in the fray."

"Well that's the thing," said Greerak. "You won't be using your ship, not in this fight. Or at least, not if you agree to this proposed surprise anyway."

Starfire raised her eyebrow. "Do explain."

"Due to how past observed Umbrosian tactics would indicate that the entirety of the first half of this battle will be fought via space ship armadas, Galfore and I believe it would be an ideal time to play along with your sister's delusions for a while and have you fight in a way that wouldn't make it obvious that you and your friends are in fact still alive."

The titans all raised their eyebrows. "Wouldn't the fact that there are Tamaranean ships fighting alongside the Gordanians ships be enough to give our survival away?" Robin asked.

"Not necessarily." Greerak folded his arms across his chest. "From what I've been told about Komand'r's firm belief in her own superiority, it is likely that she'll believe that the damage she and her forces caused to us during her attack last week would have been enough to demoralize my kin to the point that we'd have begged for and been granted assistance from the Tamaraneans."

"But if she believes that your people killed us," Cyborg began.

"Last time I checked," Greerak interrupted. "My people aren't the only inhabitants of this planet that would have potentially been responsible for such an event. For one, there are plenty of native animals and plants that could have easily done the deed themselves. Furthermore, considering just where the royal starship was struck during the Umbrosian attack against you two days ago, it is also reasonable to believe that it may have blown up not too long after landing, taking out you and your ship alongside everyone onboard the royal starship. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable that she'll assume that one of those two fates befell you, which would in turn explain why her kind would still be willing to provide aid for my people despite your supposed deaths on our planet."

"I'll admit, a surprisingly clever explanation," said Raven.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Alright," said Robin. "Consider us interested. But if we say yes to this idea of yours, just what exactly would we be doing?"

Galfore pointed towards the combined fleet of ships. "Enough of my forces allowed themselves to be assigned to ground troop duty to allow for a single spare ship amongst the Tamaranean portion of the fleet. Greerak and I believe this ship would prove a wise choice of alternate vessel for you to use during your initial participation in this battle."

"Once the battle has gone on long enough for Komand'r and the Umbrosians to start deploying ground troops, that will be your cue to withdraw," said Greerak. "Just long enough to prepare yourselves for the moment that you proudly join up with us in the fighting. But again, this is only going to be done if you truly wish to do so. If you don't feel like you'd be up to the task, we'll gladly let you attack alongside us in your preferred spaceship."

The titans looked each other in the eyes. What were they to say?

"I don't know," said Starfire. "I'm not sure if I was ever given the chance to fly one of my people's spaceships."

"I say we give it a shot," said Cyborg. "I'll be the main pilot."

"You're absolutely sure of this?"

"Of course I am Rob. You've got my usual mastery of all manner of tech, my small grasp of Tamaranean from Starfire's own teachings, and Starfire herself around to translate for anything that I haven't yet had the chance to learn. How hard could it be?"

. . . . .

Blackfire gazed intently into the large crystal ball-like orb, her purple eyes narrowed in concentration as she watched the video feed being broadcast by the cameras affixed to the Umbrosian ships making their way towards Gordania for the coming attack. "Today is the day," she thought to herself. "Gordania will fall, and I shall watch it burn as my allies destroy it."

Nolfavrel similarly couldn't help but 'grin'. "As much as I still doubt that your sister and her friends are truly dead, I will admit, the possibility of us being allowed to destroy this one permissible planet from your home system leaves me feeling very happy indeed."

Cometbolt nodded his head, clutching a long Tamaranean spear in the process. "I will admit, while I would have loved to slaughter all those hideous clorbags myself, it will nonetheless be satisfying to see them all die today."

Blackfire chuckled. "That's the spirit. Today they shall indeed die. All of them."

"Yes they shall," said Nolfavrel, "as long as everything goes well. And if that clumsy fool Phantrath values his life, he'd better hope that everything goes well in this battle."

"Indeed," said Blackfire. "You know Cometbolt, do you perhaps feel like placing a bet on how long it will take for Gordania to fall under our might?"

"Why make a gamble out of it?"

"Why not make a gamble out of it? It's seeming quite clear to me that it's going to be more of a matter of 'when' rather then 'if'. We might as well get further enjoyment out of the whole spectacle by betting just how long it will take before the inevitable conclusion. Besides, I proved myself quite the skilled gambler during my time visiting the casinos on Yaggadosk." She let a wolf-like grin come on her face. "And let's just say that I'm feeling very lucky today."

Cometbolt thought to himself. "Well when you put it like that . . ."

"Quiet," Nolfavrel hissed. "Our forces are approaching Gordania."

. . . . .

Karras of Tamaran narrowed his eyes as he saw what looked like ominous tiny black specks on the horizon. He initiated a transmission. "Lieutenant Taryia, the enemy approaches. Are you ready?"

"I am my lo. . . sir."

"Good." He returned his attention to the incoming enemy vessels. "Stand by for further orders."

"Yes sir," said Taryia, the rest of the Tamaranean vessel fighters responding in kind not too long after her.

Meanwhile, amongst the Gordanian fleet, Yarboth narrowed his own orange eyes at the approaching enemy fighters. "General Garzvohg," he hissed. "His Majesty's instincts were indeed correct. The enemy is approaching. Are you ready?"

"Yes," his fellow general responded.

"Good, tell the rest of the men to stand by for further orders."

Garzvohg did so, and the other Gordanian vessel fighters responded appropriately in unison.

After what felt like an hour, the specks in the sky came close enough for the Tamaraneans and Gordanians to discern their actual shapes, and thus prove without a doubt that they truly were Umbrosian warships.

This was all the lead soldiers needed to see. "The enemy has come upon us," Karras and Yarboth yelled in unison. "The time has come for battle! Forward troops! Attack!"

The entirety of the two fleets activated their ships, took to the sky, and rocketed towards the incoming Umbrosian fleet, mercilessly firing away with their blasters. Within minutes, the sky was both dark with the various spaceships and alight with the storm of blaster fire the respective fleets fired at each other and the explosions that ensued with every successful strike. So focused were all the vessel fighters on the battle at hand that absolutely no one noticed the single Tamaranean warship located in an out of the way cluster of ruins that, despite how the battle had now well and truly begun, _still_ hadn't yet taken off to join the rest of the fleet.

. . . . .

Robin narrowed his eyes from where he sat within the titans' temporary new ship. "I thought you said you could fly this thing."

"What I _said_ ," Cyborg grumbled irritably as he continued pressing buttons on the control panel, "was 'how hard could it be?' Apparently, the answer was 'harder than I thought'!"

"Did you not press the giant circular button?" Starfire asked.

"I'm pressing it right now as we speak!" Cyborg yelled, slamming his fist against that very button.

Beast Boy glared. "Why don't you try saying please?"

"This is no time for joking BB!"

Cyborg placed his hands on the back of his head, wringing non-existent hair. "Gah! I never should have said yes to this!" He slammed his hands on the control panel, palms open. His left hand, miraculously enough, landed right on the giant circular button. Hilariously enough, the ship activated.

The titans were understandably shocked by this.

"What the?" Cyborg asked. "How come it worked this time?"

"It would appear," said Starfire. "That the activation button requires contact exclusively from a palm, not from a fist or finger."

"Well that's stupid," said Cyborg.

"Don't start complaining now," said Beast Boy. "At least the ship's working."

"Yeah, yeah, now how to handle this. . ."

"Press the square button to activate the thrusters," said Starfire.

Cyborg did so. "Got it. Next?"

"Use the joystick to go up and down," Starfire explained, "and use the wheel to steer and turn around."

Cyborg lightly pressed the joystick forward. Sure enough the ship slowly started rising. "Alright!" Cyborg said. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Joy," Raven droned.

"Alright Cyborg. Let's get moving."

"Will do," said Cyborg.

The ship continued to rise, and Cyborg started turning it around to face the exit to the ruins; one of the wings slicing into and toppling over multiple columns.

Beast Boy noticed this, and glared at Cyborg. "I think you missed a column."

"Shut up."

Cyborg managed to get the ship just high enough off the ground, and he sent it flying off to join the battle. The manner in which this deed got carried out, however, was far from graceful.

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow at the sight of three waiting ground-based Gordanians and 4 ground-based Tamaraneans hurrying to avoid getting hit by the swinging and flailing wings of the ship. "You missed a pedestrian," he grumbled. "Want to go back and hit him?"

"Quiet," said Cyborg. "I've got this."

The ship continued flying, proceeding to just barely avoid crashing into any Tamaranean or Gordanian ships. Several Umbrosian ships, however, were not so lucky. At least one building, plus an active rooftop laser turret, also fell victim to getting damaged as they were accidentally sliced and smashed by one of the wings of the titans' ship.

Cyborg lifted his finger right as Robin directed a glare at him. "Not a word."

They heard large objects swooping behind them, and they turned their heads in time to see five Umbrosian ships flying after them.

"Now they're following us," said Beast Boy.

Cyborg held his tongue, and flew the ship helter-skelter trying to avoid the pursuers. The pursuers, not to be deterred, started firing their blasters at the errant ship. Several lucky blasts managed to strike the ship, miraculously only dealing minor damages.

"Now they're firing at us," Beast Boy yelled.

"Yeah! Thank you for the commentary BB!" Cyborg hollered back. "It's not at all distracting!"

"Boys," Raven droned.

Starfire gulped, now feeling quite nervous. "I can't look," she said, placing her hands over her eyes.

The ship managed to fly dangerously close to a giant statue of a very regal looking Gordanian king. The word 'Zrorak' was engraved at the base in the Gordanian alphabet. While Cyborg managed to hurriedly move the ship aside in time to avoid a direct collision, that one ever so destructive wing sliced through the statue's neck, sending its head plummeting down to the ground, crushing one of the pursuing Umbrosian ships on the way down.

"Well done," said Beast Boy. "You just decapitated Greerak's grandfather."

Cyborg grumbled, fighting with all his willpower to avoid blowing up in anger.

"Maybe you should let Starfire have a try," said Robin.

"You know what? Sure. Can't get any worse then with me at the helm."

Starfire gulped, but nonetheless swooped over to the pilot's seat after Cyborg got up. She took a deep breath. "X'hal help me," she thought to herself.

She pressed the brake button, and the ship lurched to a stop. While the rest of the titans worked to get their bearings back, Starfire took several deep breaths. "Remain calm," she thought to herself. "You can do this. Which one's the forward button? Which one's the forward button? Oh right, this one." She pressed the button in question.

With a unified shriek from the titans, the ship suddenly rocketed backwards. The Umbrosians in one of the pursuing ships had just enough time for their eyes to widen in surprise before the errant Tamaranean ship smashed into them and blew them up, continuing to fly backwards for a brief moment afterwards. The remaining three pursuing Umbrosian ships calmly stopped and turned around to face the titans' ship.

"Sorry," said Starfire, directing an apologetic look at her friends as they lay sprawled out against their chairs and the ship's floor. "It would appear that was actually the reverse button, not the forward button."

"What gave it away?" Raven asked sarcastically.

"Again, I am sorry." Starfire looked back at the control panel, hovered her finger over the button next to the reverse button, and then pressed it. The ship began to move forward. She sighed in relief. "Thank X'hal. Ok, now the blasters . . . blasters . . . here they are." She started firing the blasters. The three Umbrosian ships, caught completely off guard at the sudden blaster fire, were blown to bits.

The other titans watched through the windows as Starfire panted and gasped in relief. "Keep at it Star," said Robin. "You're doing great."

"Yeah," Starfire managed to say, still gasping. "I daresay I am."

"Well let's hope you can keep it up," said Cyborg. He pointed in the direction of the larger battle. "Because it's high time we actually make ourselves useful in this battle."

Starfire narrowed her eyes in the direction Cyborg was pointing. "Yes. I daresay you're right." She gunned the thrusters, sending the ship rocketing forward to join in amongst the chaos unfolding in the Gordanian sky.

. . . . .

Blackfire narrowed her eyes. An hour had now passed since the battle had begun, and she was currently not liking what she was seeing. "Why is this taking so long?" she snarled.

Cometbolt was similarly displeased. "I must agree with Komand'r. This battle should have been a hundred times over by now."

Nolfavrel made a 'tsk, tsk' noise. "It would appear that someone amongst us may have miscalculated."

Blackfire glared at the Umbrosian. "I resent what you appear to be implying, and I will not take any disrespect from you, subtle or otherwise."

Nolfavrel narrowed his own eyes. "I could say the same to _you_ Komand'r."

Cometbolt stepped between his partner and the Umbrosian councilman. "Enough," he said. "Senselessly arguing won't improve our situation. But I do have an idea of something that could help in its place." He placed his hand on his chest, standing to attention in the process while gazing at Nolfavrel. "Send me down there to join them."

"No," said Nolfavrel. "You are too valuable an asset to waste this early on. We need you alive so that your reveal can demoralize Tamaran when we move to conquer it later." He redirected his gaze towards the video feed. "For now, we continue to allow exclusively my own kin to do the fighting. But fear not, I will allow reinforcements." He raised his left hand to his head, initiating telepathic communication with one of his fellow councilmen. "Sound the order to deploy the ground troops."

. . . . .

From their vantage point on the palace balcony, Galfore and Greerak narrowed their eyes at the sight of shadowy portals materializing on the ground several miles in front of where the fleet had originally been parked. The sight of countless shadowy cloak-like figures swooping out onto Gordanian land from those portals only confirmed their suspicions.

"They've reached their tipping point," said Galfore. "The ground troops are being deployed."

Greerak slammed his trident upon his left palm, hissing in anticipation. "High time they did so."

Galfore nodded in agreement, and the two rulers looked each other in the eyes. Now that the Umbrosians had deployed their ground troops, the ones for the Gordania-Tamaran alliance would soon follow suit. With that in mind, it was now not only time for the titans to retreat and prepare for their reveal, but also for Greerak and Galfore themselves to prepare for when they entered the battle as well alongside their respective honor guardsmen.

"It is time," said Greerak.

"Indeed." Galfore pointed in the direction of the interior door to the room behind them. "I shall remain here just long enough to make sure Koriand'r is aware that the time has come for our ruse to end. I shall join you and our honor guard immediately after that." He interlocked his fingers, stretching his hands and arms forward in the process. "It has been a long time since I've ever fought directly in combat. My ax thirsts for blood."

"As does my trident," Greerak hissed in agreement, lifting his weapon and slamming its blunt end on the floor thrice to prove his point.

Galfore drew out his communicator he reserved for communicating with Starfire and started entering the necessary calling code. Greerak turned around, flapped his wings, and flew off to where his honor guard was waiting.

. . . . .

Blackfire narrowed her eyes. A quarter of an hour had passed since both sides had deployed their ground troops, and now she felt curious as to why she'd just caught sight of one of the Tamaranean battleships turning around and retreating from the battle. "What in X'hal's name is going on?" she thought to herself.

At the sound of clashing weapons and screaming warriors, her attention was drawn away from this confusing detail to watch the dueling ground troops. As she watched, she couldn't help but let brief smiles come on her face every time one of the Tamaraneans or Gordanians fell to the attacks of the Umbrosian soldiers. Unfortunately, the Umbrosian soldier casualties, of which there were considerably more, were enough to leave her literally glowing eyed with rage every time one of her own soldiers was either cut down by a Tamaranean spear or blasted to ash by a Gordanian trident.

Nolfavrel, while not angry, nevertheless raised his 'eyebrow' in concern. "At this rate, your sister and her friends won't even need to miraculously turn out to be alive for our forces to be defeated."

"Hey now," said Cometbolt. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Things could yet improve. Besides, regardless of whether our lot improves, how much worse could things possibly get?"

At the sight of a sudden giant burst of green light from the video feed, the three 'higher ups' turned their heads back to the battle in surprise just in time to see a massive ball of what looked like green flames strike a squadron of Umbrosians and explode in a brilliant flash of green light. The trio continued to remain stunned even as the video feed managed to shift closer and closer towards the area from which this unexpected attack appeared to have come from.

Cometbolt managed to get his voice back, and he directed a side glance at Blackfire. "I am starting to get the feeling that I will soon regret asking that question."

Blackfire glowered at Cometbolt, an acerbic response seconds away from leaving her mouth. But then she caught sight of what looked like five disturbingly familiar-looking silhouettes walking forward from within a large cave entrance beneath the Gordanian palace, and she directed her glance back to the video feed, her eyes narrowing. "It can't be," she thought to herself half in shock and half in rage. "By X'hal, tell me that's not. . ."

The five figures stepped out of the cave and fully into view. Upon sight of them, her eyes widened for a split second in shock. But then she snarled, her eyes glowed, and she slammed her fists on the plinth that the video feed was positioned upon.

"NO!" she howled in fury.

. . . . .

"Titans, go!" yelled Starfire.

In a flash, she, Robin, and Cyborg lunged off to battle the Umbrosians. Within moments, the already suffering Umbrosian side found itself even more hilariously outgunned as countless numbers of them were blasted to dust by Starfire's star bolts and eye beams, Robin's flame and electricity disks, and Cyborg's sonic cannon.

Robin ran every which way he could through the dueling alien soldiers, throwing disk after disk like there was no tomorrow. "Don't be so gloomy," Robin yelled. "Lighten up!"

"Booyah!" Cyborg yelled gleefully as he mowed down Umbrosians with his sonic cannon.

Starfire, meanwhile, threw star bolt and star bolt, with the occasional beam fired from her eyes every now and then, grunting with effort as she did so.

Eventually, the Umbrosians appeared to start getting wise to all this, and they all started to gang up into one large group that would hopefully be big enough to overwhelm the three teenage heroes.

Fortunately for their friends, Raven and Beast Boy had hung back and waited precisely for this very possibility. In the week that had followed the Valentine's Day incidents, they had worked together to form their very own special combo attacks so as to help keep their friendship and ability to work together in combat strong no matter how awkward things got between them.

"You ready Beast Boy?"

The changeling nodded, and transformed into a spinosaurus.

Raven levitated up, placed her glowing hands on the dinosaur's back, and sent her distinctive black energy pouring into him. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

With a crackling hum, Beast Boy the spinosaurus started crackling with black energy. Then the sail on his back started to glow as it appeared to absorb beams of moonlight. The dinosaur turned its head to stare directly at the mass horde of Umbrosians about to try to overwhelm Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, its jaws starting to glow with white light. Its mouth opened, and with a roar of relieved tension, a giant beam of white light erupted from its open jaws straight at the mass Umbrosian onslaught.

The effect on the enemy forces was instantaneous as the gigantic blast of white light proceeded to obliterate not only the mass group about to try to rush against the other titans, but also a sizable number of the Umbrosians that were still busy battling the Tamaranean and Gordanian ground troops.

The Umbrosians soon found more reason for worry when, while Beast Boy and Raven were still firing off their devastating combo attack, they heard what sounded like harsh primal shouting coming from the very cave that the titans had exited from, and then turned their heads in time to see a combined squadron of Gordanian and Tamaranean warriors charging out of the cave with their weapons at the ready. But what really made the Umbrosians terrified to see this particular squadron was the very unique armor that the majority of its members wore in comparison to that worn by the all the other foot soldiers, and also the two evident leading figures at the helm of the squadron.

"The enemy will feel our fury tonight!" Galfore bellowed as he waved his ax furiously through the air.

"Die shadow scum!" Greerak roared, his trident aimed straight at a far off Umbrosian squadron and glowing with green energy.

With screams of rage, the two rulers and their respective honor guardsmen entered the fray, the Tamaraneans bellowing like animals while hacking Umbrosians with their axes and the Gordanians blasting mercilessly with their tridents. All while the titans, regular ground troopers, and spaceships continued their own respective assaults against the enemy.

. . . . .

"NO!"

Blackfire slammed her fists on the plinth where the video feed orb was positioned again and again. "NO, NO, NO, NO! Ahz'rogha curse you, NO!"

Cometbolt winced. "I will admit, I am now feeling very glad that we didn't make any bets on how long it would take for us to win this battle."

Blackfire turned her head, a savage death glare on her face directed at her countryman.

Nolfavrel shook his head. "It would appear that my instincts, and your countryman's hopes were correct. Contrary to you and Phantrath's naïve assumptions, your sister, her friends, and the other Tamaraneans they were accompanying are not only still alive, but are actively fighting with your planet's military alongside the Gordanians."

He lifted his hand to his head, ready to initiate telepathic contact with the rest of the Umbrosian council. "The end result is seeming to be quite clear now. I shall recall our forces immediately."

"NO!"

Nolfavrel and Cometbolt directed annoyed glances at Blackfire.

"Komand'r," said the Umbrosian councilman. "Be reasonable. At this current rate, it is clear that victory will not be ours; and we are already losing far too many men as is. As much as death may only be a temporary inconvenience for my kin, that doesn't mean we enjoy dying any more than any other species. We need to call retreat now, so that we can have enough to properly enact our initial plans for Tamaran with more sufficiently prepared troops."

"We can still win this battle," Blackfire hissed, desperate to get some sort of worthy end result out of this current effort. "I'm sure we can. We're just suffering a few setbacks, that's all."

Cometbolt pointed meaningfully at what was unfolding on the video feed. "You call this 'suffering a few setbacks'? We're being massacred!"

Blackfire growled, and hung her head in indecision. She looked back at the video feed, and spent what felt like an hour watching the ensuing chaos as what appeared to be thousands of Umbrosian soldiers and ships falling to the combined might of the Tamaraneans, Gordanians, and titans all attacking together. Blackfire tensed herself, her teeth gritting, and eyes closed. She did not want to back down. She so desperately didn't want to back down. But as she continued to watch more and more of her borrowed soldiers getting vanquished by the might of the hopelessly large army that was fighting alongside her sister and the other titans, she found herself realizing more and more just how clearly even the tiniest of hope for her achieving victory in this battle would be delusional at this point.

Letting out a mixture between a sob and a snarl, she slammed her fists on the video feed pedestal one more time. "OH ALRIGHT FINE!" she snapped. She turned around, raising her hand dismissively in Nolfavrel's direction. "Call for them to retreat," she hissed bitterly.

The Umbrosian councilman nodded. "I knew you would see reason soon enough." He lifted his hands to his head, beginning the necessary telepathic transmission.

. . . . .

Karras was understandably stunned when the attacking Umbrosian ships seemed to suddenly lose interest and fly hurriedly away from the combat.

"What in X'hal's name?" he thought to himself.

"General," said Taryia's voice from his commlink. "The enemy. . . they're. . ."

"I see it darl. . . Lieutenant."

Yarboth and most of the other Gordanians were similarly surprised at this sight, as well as the sight of the ground troops similarly working to detach themselves from the combat and retreat. "They're abandoning the battle," Yarboth hissed in confusion. "Why?"

Garzvohg snarled, clearly not caring about that matter. "Does it matter?" He prepared his ship's blasters for another round of fire. "I for one, am certainly not gonna allow them to leave with any incentive to return here in a hurry!"

With an inarticulate roar, Garzvohg began to open fire at the fleeing Umbrosians. Acting purely on instinct, the rest of the Gordanian fighter pilots promptly followed suit, as did the Gordanian ground troops.

Karras soon saw the tactical sense in this move. "Keep firing men," yelled Karras. "Make sure they feel no reason to come back!"

"You heard the General!" Taryia yelled, clearly more than willing to support her husband and commanding officer. "Keep firing!"

The Tamaranean fighter pilots instantly obeyed their commander's orders, sending a storm of their own blaster fire to join the continued Gordanian blaster onslaught.

The only combatants not to add attacks of their own into the onslaught were the titans. Beast Boy raised his saurian eyebrow, and then reverted back to human form. "Um . . . should we keep attacking?"

The other titans all looked to Starfire, who shook her head. "No. There will be no need." She directed her gaze towards the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian army, a warm look of pride on her face. "The efforts of our army, King Greerak, and my K'norfka will be more than enough to finish driving them out." She turned around to face her friends, her smile widened and eyes agleam with joy. "We have won."

 **And just like that, the battle for Gordania is over, and the combined army of titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians is victorious (at least for this battle anyway)! All that said, I hope very much that you enjoyed this chapter, read it, and leave plenty of feedback (after all, I do require an exact minimum (I repeat; MINIMUM) of 2 reviews for this chapter before I will allow the next chapter to be posted). All in all, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to seeing more ^_^**

 **Coming up next: The titans and the combined forces of Tamaran and Gordania celebrate their success in the battle for Gordania, complete with Greerak granting Starfire a particularly generous surprise ceremonial favor. However, near the celebration's end, is there perhaps something in the area that could bring about a dark cloud over the celebratory mood? Find out next time!**


	12. A Celebration Gone Wrong

**Hello everyone! Hope you're all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, the alliance of Titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians celebrates their great victory against Blackfire and the Umbrosians from the previous chapter; complete with Greerak granting Starfire an especially generous formal favor. However, could there yet be reason for them to be wary despite their current celebratory mood? Let's find out. Shall we? Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I'd best remind you all once more that I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based. And with my legal bases now covered, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 11:**

 **A Celebration Gone Wrong**

Robin was uncertain how to feel as he sat upon a bench at the Gordanian Communal Feast Hall. As happy as he was about the victory the previous day, he was also bewildered by just how easily he and the titans, plus the Tamaraneans as a whole, still seemed to be getting along so well with the Gordanians in the aftermath of the previous day's battle. The less than graceful table manners of all the Tamaraneans, plus the equally horrid table manners of all the Gordanians, certainly didn't help.

Beast Boy blanched as he caught sight of a group of hungry Tamaranean warriors tearing legs off of what looked like roasted animals resembling tusked and scaly mixes between pigs and triceratops and ravenously stuffing themselves with gigantic mouthfuls of the meat. "Good grief," he managed to state quietly. "And I thought that the dinner we attended on Tamaran during the almost wedding was crazy. Starfire _definitely_ learned proper table manners on Earth."

"I'll say," said Raven, shaking her head at the sight of several Gordanian warriors swilling their native ale straight from the tankards. "The Gordanians certainly aren't any better."

"I'll admit," Cyborg said, taking a break from his own hearty feasting on a serving of the triceratops-pig beasts being served, but with his mouth full. "I've seen better table manners in my day."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Well isn't that a case of the pot calling the kettle black?"

Starfire, herself in the middle of her own vicious partaking in the feast, lifted her head, her own eyebrow raised in confusion. "Last time I checked, there are no talking pots or kettles here, and what do such things have to do with friend Cyborg's statement?"

Robin sighed, pinching his nose in annoyance. "I'll explain later," he grumbled. Starfire briefly remained confused. But then she shrugged, and resumed her vicious feasting upon her food. Cyborg, likewise, resumed his engorging upon the meat he'd served himself. Raven and Beast Boy, meanwhile, pushed their own still untouched plates forward.

"I'm not hungry," said Beast Boy.

Robin sighed, and pushed his own half eaten plate of food forward. "Me neither," he grumbled. Cyborg and all the Tamaraneans and Gordanians, naturally, continued their ravenous massacre of the huge victory feast.

. . . . .

Right as the feast was finally starting to wind down, Greerak raised his trident and slammed the blunt end on the floor thrice. All the Gordanians present turned their attention towards their king. The Tamaraneans and titans, both intrigued and wishing to be polite, similarly turned their attention to Greerak.

"Friends, Gordanians, countrymen, lend me your ears. Tonight, we celebrate a great victory!"

The Gordanians all cheered in agreement. The Tamaraneans also nodded in agreement with Greerak's statement. Starfire and the other titans, however, were the only ones to stay silent and motionless during this moment.

"Just last week," Greerak stated, eager to continue his speech, "we were subjected to a cowardly attack by the foul Tamaranean exile Komand'r and an army of our centuries old enemies, the living shadows of Umbrosia! With this attack, our cities and buildings lay in ruins, and several of our important nobles and soldiers, my father included, lay dead underneath. But only yesterday, we rose from the ashes, and claimed a great triumph against these vile enemies!"

The audience once again started cheering.

"However," Greerak continued, a serious look coming on his gecko-like face. "Credit for this great success cannot be fully attributed to any Gordanian. We had allies that had previously joined with us to combat the living shadows the previous time centuries ago, only to later tragically become our mortal enemies once more in the interval between then and now; the Tamaraneans."

The Gordanians turned to face the Tamaraneans, who shrugged, and then started waving and nodding their heads in acknowledgement.

"Yes, after countless years of enmity directly enforced by pride and alternative facts, we were able to restore our old alliance with the Tamaraneans. What do we have to show for it?" He lifted his hands and trident in triumph, lifting his head to face the ceiling. "We stand alive, free, and victorious against the living shadows and the accursed Tamaranean exile who dares to lead them in Nightfire's footsteps!"

The Gordanians cheered once more, and this time the Tamaraneans cheered just as raucously alongside them. Even Starfire and the other titans couldn't help but smile and nod their heads.

"But wait."

The cheering stopped, and dead silence hung in the air.

"Even the rebirth of that alliance alone wasn't the biggest factor to contribute to this victory. Ever since the time of King Sombragor, the entirety of our culture had become defined by his arrogance and refusal to accept his own faults, let alone any of our race and history as a whole. Our history was erased, locked away, and rewritten with blatant lies. Even with the living shadows on the rise to attack and destroy us both, there would have been no guarantee that we and the Tamaraneans would have been at all willing to work together against them."

The young king took a deep breath. "When the initial group of uninvited visitors from Tamaran were forced on our land by the living shadows, it would have been all too easy for us to slay them where they stood and be done with it. But there was one individual amongst this group of guests who made it possible for all our collective eyes to be exposed to the truth, and for the alliance to receive the rebirth it so desperately needed for all our sakes."

He directed his head so that he was looking straight at Starfire, and then pointed at her. "Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, arise."

At the sight of the mass scrutiny she found herself under after this, Starfire gulped, and hung her head. But then she steeled herself, rising to her feet to face the young Gordanian king. Greerak directed his head towards the still seated Yarboth and Garzvohg. The two generals rose from their seats and departed from the feast hall.

There was no time to wonder why the two generals had apparently been ordered to leave at this time before Greerak continued. "Step forward."

Starfire took a deep breath, exhaled, and stepped forward until gestured to stop at the base of the stairs leading up to Greerak's table. Greerak flew over to Starfire's location, landing on his feet right in front of her. With further prompting from him, Starfire turned around to face the gathered larger audience while Greerak repositioned himself so that he was standing next to her instead of behind her.

"She is the one truly deserving of credit for our current salvation! Let us all be honest, she had every reason to hate us and want us all dead just like the rest of her people did! Our kind had fought a long and bitter war against her people six years ago! And even more heartlessly, one of her own people had callously sold her to us as a slave! A slave! To serve a joyless, hopeless, lifeless existence as a soulless and barbaric gladiator doomed to forever spend her days and nights fighting to the bloody end against wild beasts, battle robots, and other warriors for the amusement of crowds in the accursed Citadel Coliseum!"

The audience snarled as one in vicious assent to Greerak's rage, the Tamaraneans considerably more venomously then the Gordanians.

"She had all this prior ammunition, plus the fact that my men were willing to slaughter her and her friends immediately upon arrival, _and_ were accusing her and her people of deliberately ordering her exiled sister to make her attack on our planet the previous week! She could have given into her rage and called for our blood! But despite all the reason she had to despise us, she chose instead to take a more diplomatic approach, and that has made all the difference!"

He raised his left fist. "The war is far from over, and Komand'r and the foul god that the living shadows worship still have yet to show their faces in battle themselves! I will be honest about that. Nonetheless, we have won a magnificent victory in a battle against them, and until the time comes tomorrow for us to ready ourselves to once again go to battle with those monsters, we shall spend what little time remains before then continuing to enjoy and celebrate our triumphant success against them!"

The Gordanians and Tamaraneans cheered once more, this time with Beast Boy and Cyborg joining in while Robin and Raven merely nodded their heads and smiled in Starfire's direction. Starfire blushed, and hung her head modestly as this happened.

"But first, there is something special I have arranged for myself to do for our distinguished guest, Princess Koriand'r herself."

The doors to the feast hall opened, and everyone present turned their heads in time to see Yarboth and Garzvohg enter. For a brief moment, however, all of the patrons' eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror at the sight of what looked very disturbingly like Gordanian slave cuffs. Starfire, in particular, was especially shocked due to how they resembled the very same ones she'd been forced to wear immediately after being sold to the Gordanians.

"Do not be alarmed," Greerak yelled. "I know that this looks bad. But fear not! These cuffs that Generals Yarboth and Garzvohg carry have been brought here exclusively for a ceremonial purpose! Nothing more, nothing less!"

For a tense moment, everyone in the room remained on guard. Then, one by one, they all calmed down and relaxed. Though Starfire's fellow titans, plus all of the Tamaraneans, remained somewhat wary compared to the Gordanians. Greerak nodded in understanding, knowing full well that what he appeared to be setting up was perfectly worth suspicion.

The two generals walked up to where their king stood alongside Starfire and handed over the pair of cuffs. Greerak lifted them up, making sure that the entirety of the audience could see them. He turned to face Starfire, extending the cuffs towards her. "Koriand'r," he stated, "if you feel comfortable with doing so, then place your hands within these cuffs."

Starfire thought to herself. "If I were to do so, would they be closed around my hands? If yes, will they be locked?"

"Yes," Greerak admitted. "But I assure you, it will all just be part of the show. Of that, I give my word. You'll have nothing to fear."

Starfire thought to herself once more, then looked back at her fellow titans, all of whom seemed unsure what to think. She looked back at Greerak. "Very well, I will allow this. But be warned, if you violate your word. . ."

"I know. I will be punished greatly. Deservedly so."

"Good."

She extended her arms, placing her hands within the open cuffs. Greerak closed them, the cuffs instantly locking themselves in the process. He turned to face the audience. "As you know, six years ago, at the conclusion of our kind's war with Tamaran, Koriand'r was sold to Gordania as a slave. But of course, mere days after the sale, while the late Trogaar and his men were heading off to the Citadel home world with Koriand'r and various other prime fighting stock in tow, she escaped right as they were passing by Earth. From there, the efforts to recapture her were foiled by Koriand'r herself alongside four other powerful teenage warriors of Earth, and they were promptly driven away afterward by both these five titans and the added threat of the Justice League potentially getting involved."

He raised his finger, his orange eyes narrowed. "However, while our kind's partnership with the Citadel was ended immediately after this, my father largely dismissed her as mere hopelessly lost property, and Koriand'r has spent the last five years a free woman alongside her four friends from Earth, the simple fact is that, for these same five years, she has still remained, from a legal and technical standpoint, our property."

The Gordanians raised their eyebrows, the Tamaraneans clenched their fists, and the titans tensed themselves in case they'd need to fight. In contrast, the only ones apart from Greerak to remain calm and collected were Starfire and the two generals. The two generals were already aware of what it was their king had planned, whereas Starfire simply chose to keep faith in Greerak's word.

"However," Greerak said. "As it so happens, I have the contract that Trogaar signed with the one who sold her to us. Let's see what the terms of it are. Shall we?"

He drew out a scroll, obviously the aforementioned contract, unfurled it, and began to read it. After several minutes of tense silence, he closed his eyes and nodded his head. "As I suspected, while Trogaar was the one who met with the seller, agreed to the sale, and signed the contract as the accepting buyer, all that was only made possible by the explicit approval of my father, King Vraarak. Furthermore, as Trogaar was proud enough to brag to my father about, since the king himself gave his approval, the contract and the slavery granted by it can only be undone by the king's explicit word. Not even the death of the king will be enough to dissolve it."

Then he raised his finger, his eyes open and agleam with sudden happiness. "But wait! Before any of you gets confused or angry, listen to me again! I said, only the explicit word of 'the king' can dissolve the bonds of this contract. I didn't say that explicitly only my father Vraarak himself could have the power to dissolve the contract, did I?"

All the audience members thought to themselves, and their eyes all widened as, one by one, they realized the truth in the young Gordanian king's statement.

"Yes," said Greerak. "The contract, and my father's own words, made it very clear that only the explicit word of a Gordanian king could do away with the servitude status of any of our slaves. As we all know very well, my father Vraarak would have never allowed such a thing to happen, and possibly neither would have my brother Trarak! But with both my father and brother dead, I am king now! I now hold the authority and power to choose whether to solve this dilemma, or let it continue, and I already know _exactly_ what I shall do." He clapped his hands twice.

Yarboth and Garzvohg stepped forward, the former drawing out a green crystalline key, which he handed to the young Gordanian king. Starfire's eyes widened, and so did the eyes of the rest of the audience.

Greerak lifted the key high in the air to ensure that the entire audience could see it. He turned to face Starfire, the key now lowered and firmly clasped in both of his hands. "Koriand'r," he stated. "If I may?"

Starfire extended her cuffed hands forward, and Greerak grabbed onto them, the key at the ready. "As of now," he began as he proceeded to unlock first the right cuff, and then the left one. "I hereby formally release you from your servitude to us."

Starfire pulled her hands out of the unlocked cuffs, which Greerak in turn pulled away from her. The Gordanian king turned around to face the audience and slammed the cuffs on the floor at his scaly feet. Then he extended his right hand in the direction of his two generals. "Garzvohg," he said, "the ax."

Garzvohg drew an intimidating, yet also very beautiful, looking battleax from his belt, handing it to his king in the process. Greerak raised the ax high above his head. "To truly seal the deal and emphasize how Koriand'r, the true unsung hero of this great tale, is once and forevermore no longer our slave, I shall take the ceremonial ax of execution and do this!"

He swung the ax down, the blade slamming down on the connecting strip of metal between the two open cuffs, shattering it and sending the two now disconnected cuffs sliding off to the sides, at which point they were blasted to ashes by the bursts of Yarboth and Garzvohg's tridents.

The king gestured towards the four still seated titans, smiling happily on sight of Starfire's own joyous smile. "I grant you leave now Koriand'r," he then said, "to join once more with your friends and consort as a well and truly free woman." He turned his head to face the rest of the audience, raising his hands triumphantly into the air and sending the contract scroll flying into the air before landing into the flames of a nearby brazier. "As for the rest of us, for the sake of both expressing our joy for this injustice finally being undone and making the most out of what time remains before we must resume our war with the living shadows, let us continue our great and glorious celebration!"

The audience once again cheered, this time with all three of the titan boys joining in while Raven nodded with a warm smile on her face. Starfire walked over to them, her own face similarly glowing with a smile. When she arrived back at their table, her friends were quick to talk with her. "How does it feel?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm glad you asked. It feels quite the good."

"I'll admit," said Cyborg. "Considering how bad it looked when those cuffs got brought in, what happened just now was a darned nice thing for Greerak to do for you."

"You can say that again," Robin agreed. He looked in Greerak's direction, and then pointed his finger towards the exit. "Would it be ok for us to leave?"

Starfire nodded. "Well Greerak did grant me leave to join up with you. So yes, I suppose it would be acceptable for us to leave right now." She gestured towards the doors. "Come friends, let us depart to celebrate elsewhere."

The five teen heroes departed from the feast hall together, leaving all the adults to party to their hearts' content. But as they did so, neither they, nor any of the partying adults, noticed the one single apparent Tamaranean guard who directed a glare in their direction. This same guard got up from his chair and surreptitiously made his way out of the feast hall to follow the five teens.

. . . . .

Cyborg walked towards what he hoped to be the Gordanian palace's kitchen. Half an hour had passed the titans' departure from the feast hall and they had decided to split up to have some alone time. In the case of his four younger friends, the definition of 'alone time' seemed to be more inclusive then what the phrase implied, as he was the only one to not have a partner of some sort alongside him. Nevertheless, he now chose to find the kitchen due to now starting to feel very hungry and willing to see if he could have some further helpings of the surprisingly delicious Gordanian food, especially the meat, he'd gotten to taste over the course of his time in the feast hall.

"You appear to be lost."

Cyborg jolted, and turned around, only to relax upon sight of an elderly Gordanian that he recognized as the palace chef. "Oh, yeah, I suppose you could say I am." He chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "You see I . . ."

"Let me guess, you're looking for the kitchen?"

"Is it that obvious?"

The chef tapped his ladle against his left palm. "His Majesty did say that you in particular seemed to enjoy our food a lot more than the rest of your Earthling brethren."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow in interest. "Oh he did, did he?"

"Yes, and as a matter of fact, his talk with me about that is actually why I'm here. The Tamaraneans have departed from the feast hall, but my kin wish to have one last round of food and drink while the Tamaraneans are relaxing outside, and his Majesty sent me back here to prepare these final servings for the feast." He narrowed his eyes. "I presume that you will likely now ask if I could allow you to have a couple extra servings of swamp grazer."

Cyborg, remembering how that title had been used to refer to the triceratops pig hybrid that had been amongst the dishes in the feast hall, licked his lips before responding. "You read my mind."

The chef rolled his eyes and hissed. "Out of respect for your friend, the newly formally freed Princess Koriand'r, and gratitude for you and your friends' work alongside us in yesterday's battle, I shall set aside a serving or two for you once I've finished preparing the final round for my kin. But know this, I will only allow you this one freebie. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good." The chef walked up to the door directly to his right. "Please wait out here while I do my. . ."

He paused, his eyes suddenly narrowing, and he sniffed the air. "Someone has been in my kitchen."

Cyborg's eyes widened. "It wasn't me!"

"Do you think me a fool? Of course it wasn't you!" The chef took another sniff. "Yes, definitely not you. This smell, it is Tamaranean . . . and a male one at that." He leaned forward, his head going through the open doorway. Then he tensed up, and he hurried into the kitchen, the sound of metallic clanging and rattling ensuing. Cyborg hurried over to peek inside just in time to see the chef looking into what appeared to be an open pot filled with some sort of native Gordanian plant . . . or more accurately, half filled with said plant.

"Whoever was in here," the chef hissed, "stole a portion of my midnight ember herb supply!"

"Is that a problem?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't know," the chef snapped. "I don't even know why anyone would want to steal such a thing! We use it for spice and flavor!" He paused, now deep in thought. "Although, if grounded into a powder and mixed with the right additional ingredients, it can also be used to make a powerful. . ." He paused, his eyes widening with horror. "Anesthetic drug." He turned his head to face Cyborg. "Where are your friends?"

"Beast Boy and Raven are in the garden, and I think Robin and Star might have expressed interest in visiting the celebration chamber."

"Find them! I have a bad feeling they might be needed in the near future!" He hurried out of the kitchen, Cyborg just barely getting out of the way in time. "I'll go warn his Majesty and the rest of the army!"

. . . . .

Raven was meditating calmly in the central pavilion of the palace gardens, seated in a lotus position, and her eyes closed. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Upon feeling a familiar mental presence suddenly pop in her mind, she sighed, and opened her eyes. "Beast Boy. Surely you are aware of how that's probably not the safest way you could be spending your time right now."

A green boa constrictor extended its head and neck from the leaves of a nearby tree, hissed slightly at Raven, and then slowly slithered all the way down to the ground. It reverted back to the familiar human form of the green shape shifter. "Good to see you to Rae."

"It's Raven, and I'm serious. Do you have any idea how dangerous it could be for you to just go playing around amongst the plants here?"

"Come on Raven, they're just trees. Besides, it can be surprisingly relaxing slithering through them as a snake."

"These aren't earth trees Beast Boy. We have no idea what sort of plant life can be found on this planet. For all you know, there could be a flesh-eating tree in this garden. Or worse, there could even be a tree with bark that's poisonous to the touch. You sure you want to take those kinds of risks?"

"You take the fun out of everything."

"That seems to be my specialty around you."

"Yeah, but at least you care."

"Uh-huh."

"Well hey, if you really want me to be safe from any potential homicidal plants around here, maybe I could join you in your meditating?"

Raven raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

"I'm serious." He gestured to the area around him. "I mean, we've got plenty of time, and there's nothing else we need to do right now. Besides, it could make a good bonding experience; and that kind of thing could certainly help with our next battle combo."

Raven sighed. "If you say so. But I'm warning you now, this kind of thing takes practice, patience, and especially focus. You can't learn this kind of thing within three or four minutes. Understood?"

"Understood."

Beast Boy took a seat next to Raven, and the sorceress raised her hands into her standard meditation position. "Find your center," she began. "Focus your energy, and . . ."

The wind blew against her and Beast Boy's faces, and the sound of an apparent shriek of disgust from the changeling caused Raven's eyes to widen in surprise, her hands instinctively glowing with black energy.

"My bad," said Beast Boy when he noticed this, his fingers now pinching his nose as if trying to block off a foul smell. "Sudden horrible smell reached my nose and I got thrown off. Sorry."

Raven sighed in irritation. "It's ok," she managed to say. "Just, try to be more careful how you react to sensory stimuli next time . . ."

She raised her eyebrow at a suspicious detail she was now seeing in front of her. "Beast Boy. That tree you were in not too long ago. Do you see anything suspicious near the roots?"

Beast Boy looked carefully at the tree, turning into a red-tailed hawk for good measure. He reverted to human form.

"Hmm, it does look like someone's been doing a bunch of digging lately around that tree. Although granted, that could easily be the result of the groundskeeper, or maybe some animal. Then again, that smell earlier did seem to be like that of a dead body . . ."

Raven extended her hands towards the dirt, which then glowed, and levitated into the air before being placed on the ground to the right of its original location. She got up from her seat, walked over to where the dirt had originally been, and looked down into the newly exposed hole in that location. Beast Boy got up and joined her, only for his eyes to widen in shock at the sight of what lay at the bottom of the hole. Raven similarly found herself blanching in shock at what she now saw.

As Beast Boy had unwittingly caused Raven to suspect, there was a dead body at the bottom of the hole. The body, which appeared to be that of a relatively young Tamaranean man dressed in nothing but a loin cloth, appeared to have had his head rapidly yanked around a complete 180 so that it was facing upwards despite his body lying in a 'facedown' position, his face now forever frozen in an expression of shock. Since the body hadn't yet decomposed, it was clear that whoever this Tamaranean was had been killed and buried fairly recently.

"Oh God," said Beast Boy.

"No kidding," said Raven.

"Yo! BB! Raven!"

The chromatically challenged duo turned their heads in time to see Cyborg coming to a stop nearby. "Guys, I need you to come with me! I think there might be an emergency . . . holy smoke!"

He had now caught sight of the dead Tamaranean. He got down on his knees and gazed carefully at the corpse, his eyes still widened and mouth gaping open in shock. "Oh my God, what the heck happened . . . wait a second." He pointed at the corpse's right arm; or more specifically, at a long dark scar on his right forearm. "That scar! I recognize it! This was one of the guards! He came by me after he'd finished bathing yesterday while I was polishing my armor, and he helped me out before he left! Ah man, I was going to thank him for that later this evening!"

Then his face seemed to blanche. "Oh no."

"What?"

"This same guy, I could have sworn he was at the feast hall."

"What makes you say that?"

"When in armor, he also had very distinctive gloves. All the other Tamaraneans have emeralds in their gloves. But his gloves had topazes, and there was someone in the feast hall wearing his gloves."

"That guy must have been an imposter," said Raven.

Cyborg got back on his feet and started to hurry back towards the garden's exit. "Come on! We've gotta find Rob and Star!"

"Why?" Beast Boy asked. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain on the way!" Cyborg yelled. "But the short answer? We may be in trouble!"

. . . . .

Robin waited patiently on a bench within the palace celebration chamber, waiting for Starfire to return from her apparent errand. Earlier, they had been sitting together, sentimentally remembering the day they'd met for the first time as well as other important days in their lives that they'd since come to treasure. Then Robin had noted how this room in the palace reminded him very much of a standard ballroom and offered for Star to go ahead and have a dance with him. Starfire, after about a minute of thought, had proven quite happy to accept.

Unfortunately, they had been interrupted right as they were in position and ready to dance by the arrival of a guard who had informed Starfire that Galfore needed her for something. While Starfire had been willing at first to let Galfore and the guard wait, Robin had decided that whatever it was Galfore needed would be more important in the long term and promised her that he'd wait for her to come back. Thus, Starfire had departed with the guard.

He checked the time on his communicator, and his eyes narrowed. It was seeming to take an awfully long time for Starfire to finish whatever it was she'd been called away for. "It's probably nothing serious," he said to himself. "I mean, it's not like I have any reason not to trust a Tamaranean guard; even if his armor did look a little loose fitting on him, and the scar on his forearm looked as if it were a smudged stripe of makeup, and his hair seemed to have unnatural streaks of white in it." He shook his head rapidly, trying to get all these strange details out of his head. "Stop making yourself worry," he thought to himself. "Everything's fine . . . everything's fine . . . no everything's not fine."

The door suddenly burst open, and the boy wonder jolted out of his thoughts in time to see his friends come skidding in. At the sight of the very worried looks on their faces, he raised his eyebrow despite mentally feeling very alarmed. "Guys? What happened? Is something wrong?"

"Where's Starfire?" asked Raven.

He pointed behind them. "She left a little while ago with a guard. He said Galfore needed her for something."

"Can you track her?" Beast Boy said.

"Um, sure."

Robin accessed the tracking feature on his communicator and entered in Starfire's communicator ID. He got a result and showed it to his three team mates. "She's right outside the palace. Why?"

Beast Boy looked at Raven and Cyborg. "We've gotta go; now!"

"Why?"

Cyborg looked to his leader. "Robin. This guard you said Starfire left this room with; did he have topazes in his gloves?"

"Um . . . yes, as a matter of fact, he did. Why? Is everything alright?"

"We are, for now," said Beast Boy.

"But unless we hurry," Raven continued, "Starfire might not be."

"Yeah Rob, come on! We've gotta go," said Cyborg.

Robin snapped to attention. "Right. Titans go!"

. . . . .

Robin kicked open the front door to the palace, skidding to a stop at the other side of the drawbridge. "STAR!" he yelled. His masked eyes widened as he saw that apart from him and his friends, there was nobody present in the area. He turned his head left and right, desperately scanning for any sign of his girlfriend. "STAR! STARFIRE! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Panting and gasping, he drew his communicator back out and tracked Starfire's once more. "It says she's right here."

"BB," said Cyborg. "See if you can sniff her out."

"On it."

Beast Boy turned into a bloodhound and started sniffing the area.

"What's going on?"

Robin, Cyborg, and Raven turned their heads in time to see Galfore, Greerak, and all the guards and soldiers in the combined army come to a stop. Robin pointed in their direction. "Have any of you seen Starfire?"

Greerak narrowed his eyes in confusion. "I thought she was with you."

"She was, but she left with a guard."

"More like some guy impersonating a dead guard in the palace garden," said Cyborg.

This sentence was enough to get Galfore, Karras, and Greerak instantly on guard. Galfore leaned forward towards Robin. "Where's Starfire now?"

"We're looking for her now," Robin explained, showing Galfore the tracking results on his communicator. "Though oddly enough, my tracker says she's somewhere around this area."  
"Um . . . Robin? You might want to come see this."

Robin and everyone else turned their heads in time to see Beast Boy, now in human form once more, standing nearby a cluster of bushes holding a communicator and a scroll, and multiple pieces of discarded Tamaranean guard armor lying at his feet alongside a distinctive pair of Tamaranean gloves.

Robin's eyes widened, and he pointed at the communicator Beast Boy was holding. "Is that. . .?"

Beast Boy slipped the scroll under his arm and drew out his own communicator from his belt. "Yep, it's Star's."

Galfore hurried over to where Beast Boy was standing. "Let me see that scroll."

The changeling instantly handed the scroll over to the Tamaranean emperor. Galfore unfurled the scroll, read it carefully, and then clenched onto it tightly as he snarled in anger.

"What happened?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes," said Greerak. "What happened?"

"Read this," Galfore said as he handed the scroll to the young Gordanian king, who then read the scroll, and hissed angrily at what he saw.

"Just as I thought that vile worm couldn't get any more dishonorable and underhanded."

"Let me see," said Robin.

Greerak handed Robin the scroll, and the boy wonder proceeded to read it while Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy looked over his shoulders to read the scroll as well. As one, their eyes narrowed upon reading it. Their worst suspicions had now been confirmed. The supposed guard who'd left with Starfire earlier had been an imposter, and he'd now left Gordania and taken an unwilling Starfire with him.

 **And just like that, another chapter. And that being said, oh no! Starfire's been taken! Just how will things unfold from here!? All that said though, I hope very much that you enjoyed this chapter (not to mention like how Starfire was at least formally released from her nominal status as a slave to Gordania before her abduction) and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of two reviews for this chapter before I post the next chapter)! Once again, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Coming up Next: Starfire finds herself held prisoner aboard Blackfire's brand-new personal luxury warship. And in the process, she has a not entirely pleasant reunion with both her older sister AND with Cometbolt, who she in turn comes to recognize as someone she indeed DID know very well before being sold to the Gordanians. Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so!**


	13. Family Remains

**Hi everyone! I hope you're all ready, because here's a new chapter! In this awesome new chapter, we find Starfire waking up in time to find herself held prisoner aboard Blackfire's brand-new personal luxury warship. And in the process, she proceeds, naturally, to have both an unpleasant reunion with her older sister as well as a similarly unpleasant reunion with Cometbolt (who she turns out to indeed have once known quite well before the Tamaran-Gordania war that ended with her being sold to the Gordanians). Sound worth a read? I certainly hope so! I also hope that you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I'll just remind you once more that I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC-based. The only things in this chapter that I DO own are the Umbrosians, the 3 alien races introduced in this chapter that I made up myself, and the English translation 'Cometbolt'; a translation for a name that I shall finally allow you to know the Tamaranean words for from canon DC comics (assuming you don't already know from Cometbolt's physical appearance description and apparent history with Starfire). All that said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 12:**

 **Family Remains**

Starfire groaned as she woke up. She opened her eyes, groggy and bleary eyed as she tried her best to figure out what was happening. Then it all came back to her and she gasped in horror. She had been escorted outside the Gordanian palace by an apparent Tamaran royal guard who'd informed her that Galfore had reportedly needed her. Not too long after she'd reached the opposite side of the palace drawbridge, she'd suddenly felt a stinging sensation in her right shoulder near the base of her neck. She'd had just enough time to turn her head and see a suspicious dart stuck in her shoulder, and then weakly turn her head to face the guard behind her and try to ask what was happening before she'd lost consciousness.

Now that she was awake and could remember all that, her eyes widened in further horror as she realized that she was being carried down the hallway of an unfamiliar looking ship by what looked like a trio of Scooby Doo monsters. She could recognize the species of each of the three beings that were currently carrying her; and neither of them should have even been willing to work together, let alone alongside her sister.

The phantom shadow-like being currently clutching its clawed hands around her left arm was a native of the Polaris System planet Kialandi. She could recognize the zombie-like being clutching her right arm as a native of the Vega System moon Formora. Finally, she was able to instantly recognize the pterodactyl ghost-like being holding her by both feet as a native of Korugar's immediate neighboring planet Morzan.

The Formoran, however, was the one she was the most alarmed to see. She knew from her studies that this species was largely peaceful, and that the few criminals amongst the species, despite their large size and strength, were far too meek and cowardly to work alongside the chronically backstabbing Kialandians or savagely bloodthirsty Morzani.

She lifted her head, fighting not to panic. "What are you doing?! Where am I?! Why are you working with my sister?!"

The three figures stopped in their tracks and looked her in the eyes, their own suddenly glowing red while their bodies became encased in a shadowy aura. "Does this answer your questions?" said the Formoran in a very Umbrosian sounding voice.

The Morzani warrior scoffed. "I sure hope it does," it squawked. "The last thing we need is for her to turn out to be a brainless idiot."

"Now, now," said the Kialandian. "No need to throw around insults. This is strictly business for us to complete for Komand'r and her partner."

Starfire raised her eyebrow in half fear and half confusion. "Your voices; you sound like Umbrosians. Why?"

"Oh that," said the Kialandian as he briefly removed his left hand from her arm and examined it. "These forms in which you now see us? These are not our true bodies."

"Indeed not," the Formoran agreed, letting go with his right hand to examine it. "These are just temporary bodies we've borrowed."

"Yes," agreed the Morzani. "A real shame to. We don't look nearly as frightening when we have to keep our true forms hidden inside such paltry cloaks of flesh." He then directed a look at his body, seeming to think to himself. "Though I will admit, all things considered, I do like this vessel."

The Kialandian and Formoran rolled their eyes and returned their gaze to their captive. "Please ignore our comrade while he preens and pontificates," said the Formoran

"I heard that!"

Starfire winced as the Morzani's grip suddenly tightened around her ankles.

"Enough," said the Kialandian. "Let us keep moving, we can continue to explain ourselves while we're walking."

The trio resumed their walk, carrying Starfire along in the process. "As you have probably guessed by this point, we are indeed Umbrosians possessing the bodies of other species."

"Why we are doing so?" said the Formoran. "Simple. So that we may survive being aboard this ship." He gestured to the lights on the ceiling of he hall. "What little light is present on board our own ships is specifically designed with our physiology in mind so as to not cause us to disintegrate into ash upon contact. But to survive on board any other species' ship, either the lights on such a ship need to be left completely off at all times, or we must take possession of alternate bodies to use as shields. As you can see, the three of us, plus a sizable number of others of our kind, have chosen the latter option so as to serve as guards and personal soldiers on your sister's own brand-new personal luxury warship."

"Indeed," said the Morzani. "Of course, we are limited in that we can only take possession of beings that are already dead. Furthermore, the dead bodies have to be fresh, as any decomposition present in a vessel, no matter how small, would be a gaping hole in our defenses, and we can't have that."

"Fortunately," the Kialandian continued, "your sister's newest partner was nice enough to steal a sizable number of corpses from an intergalactic prison's morgue for us to use right on the day they were to be cremated, and here we are."

They reached a doorway, and the Formoran vessel pounded its left fist against the door. "We require entry," it said.

"Acknowledged," hissed a voice from the other side. "Just one second."

The sound of gongs went off from behind the door, followed by what sounded like discomforted hissing shrieks and bubbling liquid, causing Starfire to raise her eyebrows in confusion.

"It is safe now," hissed the voice behind the door.

The Kialandian drew out what looked like some sort of card and slid it through a slot in a machine next to the door, which then opened.

Starfire's eyes widened as she found herself being carried across a narrow catwalk bridge positioned above what looked like a giant metallic pit full of boiling lava. She also could have sworn she saw the silhouette of something large swimming through the lava at one point; but when she focused her attention on the area, the silhouette was gone. As they reached the center of this bridge, Starfire heard flapping wings and looked up in time to see a pair of Gordanians flying around in circles over the bridge and pit.

The Morzani vessel noticed Starfire gazing upwards. "Ah yes, you're wondering why representatives of your new allies are present on this ship. Fear not, your alliance hasn't ended. Rather, these two are members of the vocal minority amongst the species that chose to stick to the 'old ways' they felt comfortable with instead of allying themselves with you and your friends."

"Yes," said the Formoran. "It would appear that their leader, as much as he claimed to detest the idea of working alongside your kin and going against his personal ideals, he was still enough of a hypocrite to accept working with your sister and her new partner so as to save his own skin. He even made sure to inform your sister's new partner exactly where to find you last night."

Starfire's heart sank as she heard these words. There was only one Gordanian noble she knew out of the many she'd seen at the council meeting that fit the Formoran vessel's description. "Ulragor," she thought to herself. "He sold me out."

They reached the end of the bridge and exited the room with the pit, entering a large room that consisted of a large metallic spire surrounded with a spiral ramp. Starfire had little time to fully get an idea of how this area looked before her three handlers started carrying her up the ramp. She started struggling and squirming, willing herself to summon her star bolts or eye beams. But despite her effort, she could do nothing to halt her journey up the ramp. The same drug that had rendered her unconscious still seemed to be just active enough to keep her mind addled and make her unable to even conjure up her flight, let alone her energy blasts or superhuman strength.

The trio reached the top of the ramp, opened the door located there, and entered the room on the other side with Starfire in tow. Starfire once again did not make it easy for them as they made their way to the very center of the room. But with her powers still on the fritz from the lingering effects of the drug, she was helpless to stop them outside of futile struggling.

Her handlers placed her upon the plinth in the center of the room, at which point they placed her hands in two ceiling-based stationary cuffs that snapped over her wrists, while a third stationary cuff on the center of the plinth snapped over both her feet. Starfire had just enough time to struggle lightly against her newfound restraints after her handlers released her from their grip and snarl viciously at them before the Formoran drew a metallic headband-like object from the folds of his shirt and tightened it across her forehead. She howled in discomfort when she briefly felt an electrical shock go off inside her head, and gasped breathlessly once it had ended.

"There," said the Kialandian vessel once its associate had finished its work. "That should keep you from summoning those pesky eye beams once the drug's worn off; and these cuffs," he tapped on them, "shall keep those star bolts of yours under control, and keep you stuck even with your great strength." He turned to face his two cohorts. "Let us leave. Komand'r and her partner wished to speak to the prisoner alone."

The three vessels departed from the room, and Starfire growled in their direction. "Get back here you cowards!"

She heard a familiar voice chuckling from her left, and she glared in that direction in time to see a large occupied swivel chair with its back facing her. "I must admit," said the voice. "Despite all that's happened the last two times we interacted, it feels rather nice to see you again this time."

Starfire narrowed her eyes. "It is nice to see you to . . . sister."

The chair turned around to face Starfire. Sure enough, Blackfire was seated upon it, her fingers intertwined and a smug smile on her face. "Well sister," said the dark haired Tamaranean. "What do you think of my new ship? Truly worthy of a grand ruler, is it not?"

Starfire snorted. "Considering how big your pride is sister, I presumed you would choose a much larger ship."

"Very funny."

Blackfire rose from her seat and made her way towards her chained up sister. "Though I will admit, while I arguably shouldn't have been surprised in hindsight, your revealing that you, your friends, and our old caretaker had survived the attack against you earlier this week was rather humbling. Nevertheless, the experience taught me some valuable lessons I'd best remember for when my forces and I conquer Tamaran tomorrow."

She smiled at her sister's stunned face. "What? Did you think that just because my forces were forced to retreat from yesterday's battle I would automatically turn tail and flee into hiding? Come on sister, do you really think I'd ever be scared enough of you to behave in such fashion?"

"Well no," Starfire responded. "But still, so soon after your defeat at Gordania?"

"Exactly. The last thing you and your allies would be expecting, and it's not like I have a drastic shortage of soldiers. Umbrosians rarely stay dead very long, if ever, and the Black Entity allows for at least a thousand more Umbrosians to be newly born from the shadows of their home galaxy over the course of a single day. I have plenty of soldiers to spare." Her eyes narrowed. "Though I will not at all be heartbroken if the Entity takes his sweet time in letting that bumbling moron Phantrath reform after eating him for his failure to kill you and your friends the other day.

"But fear not. On my partner's insistence, I have chosen to soften the blow somewhat against Tamaran. I allowed my partner to have advance warning of tomorrow's attack on Tamaran passed on to Galfore, your friends, and the rest of your army in the note he chose to leave with them when he captured you. They all should be within Tamaran's vicinity tomorrow in time for the main event."

She clasped her hands together, an unnerving grin on her face. "While Galfore and the entirety of your precious united army of Tamaraneans and Gordanians are busy falling to the might of my own now substantially improved army, your weakling friends and that upstart consort of yours will likely be right here on my ship trying everything in their power to save you."

"And in doing so, whether they fall by my own hand, or by the hands of the various guards on duty, they'll have wandered right into my trap."

The two sisters turned their heads in the direction of this new voice just in time for another figure to step out of the shadows. Starfire's green eyes widened upon sight of this figure, recognizing him, despite his white hair, as the exact same Tamaranean who'd lead her away from Robin and tranquilized her back on Gordania.

Blackfire chuckled, and gestured her hands towards the boy as if to say 'ta-da'. "Allow me to introduce you to my new partner Cometbolt. Though from what he tells me, you've met before."

Starfire leaned her head forward, eyes dazzling with fury as she fought desperately against the combined power of the inhibiting headband and anesthetic drug to activate her eye beams. "YOU!" she yelled. "Why have you done this!? What did you do to Vrass'ad?!"

Cometbolt raised his eyebrow. "You mean that guard I disguised myself as to lead you away from that hideous troq you call consort? Fear not, he's resting peacefully in the Gordanian Palace gardens. Though I will admit, he may have forgotten to keep his head on straight for the occasion; literally."

Starfire snarled, her fists clenched inside their cuffs. "You'll pay for that! You'll pay for kidnapping me! You'll pay for both whatever trap you plan to subject my friends to _and_ for daring to call my dear Robin by that insulting word!"

Cometbolt's eyes instantly narrowed in fury. "Does that thing really mean that much to you Kori?!" he snapped. "Huh? Does he? Or what about all those other pests that you've befriended alongside him? Do they really mean that much to you?! Especially compared to me?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Starfire growled, eyes fighting to start glowing. "What have my friends done to you?! What has my boyfriend Robin done to earn this unreasonable hatred that you choose to subject him to?!"

"Unreasonable hatred?"

The Tamaranean boy glowered, and placed his hands over his heart. "You wound me. Do you truly think so highly of that undeserving rat that you have lost even the tiniest memories of me?"

"Why should I have any memory of you?! I've never met you before in my life!"

"That's a lie!"

The white-haired boy jabbed his finger at her, his green eyes glowing, and blue sparks crackling on his fingers. "You of all Tamaraneans should have the most reason to remember me!"

"How?!" Starfire roared. "X'hal damn it, how?! Stop beating around the bush and tell me!"

Cometbolt growled. "You want to play games?! Fine! I'll play your little game!" He started walking angrily around Starfire, who turned her head as best as she could to keep him in her sight.

"You remember how when we were little," he began, "we used to always play with those specially made morflark skin balls?"

"That was something I did with my brother and sister!" Starfire yelled. "No one else!"

"Still want to make this difficult huh? How about how you allowed me to occasionally play fetch with Snarlong for you?"

Starfire narrowed her eyes angrily at the mention of her old pet dror from her childhood years. "I never trusted any child but myself to be around him," she snapped. "The only children allowed to interact with a royal's pet were myself and my siblings! Wildfire was too young to be safe around Snarlong, and the one time I trusted him with Blackfire, she tried to feed him to a glorg!"

Blackfire winced, placing her hand on her backside as she remembered the painful spanking she'd received after that incident. "Definitely not my proudest moment," she thought to herself.

Cometbolt gritted his teeth, and drew out a necklace with half of a white crystal amulet attached. "How about this? The night before you were announced as heir to the throne, we met under the moonlight on the balcony to your bedchamber, split this in half, and promised to hold onto our respective halves as a reminder to never forget each other? Or how we promised to piece it back together on our wedding day if we ever got married?"

Starfire's eyes widened, for now that Cometbolt mentioned this particular turn of events, she indeed _did_ remember it. And bitterly enough, she also finally remembered the other events he'd brought up as well, among other things. She could even remember now how her own half of the amulet had been left on a chest of drawers in her bedchamber the day she'd been taken away from Tamaran by the Gordanians. "Ph . . . Ph'yzzon?"

Cometbolt raised his eyebrow upon finally hearing Starfire refer to him by his Tamaranean name. "So you remember me _now_ , huh?"

Starfire gulped, now feeling guilty. "Yes," she whimpered. "I do remember you now. When we were young children, we had a mutual crush on each other."

"A crush?"

Ph'yzzon stepped forward. "A crush? You dismiss what we had as a mere crush?" He pointed at Starfire. "It was more than that Kori, and you know it!"

Starfire shook her head. "That's how it may have felt to you back then," she began. "But be the reasonable Ph'yzzon. We were _kids_. By X'hal, the last time we ever saw each other on Tamaran, you were 16, and I was 12." She lifted her head. "You may still believe that it's real love, but it was little more than a crush of the yard of schools. The love of a puppy. Nothing like the true and proper love I feel for Robin."

"DON'T MENTION THAT NAME!"

"I can, and I will."

Starfire stared directly at Cometbolt, still looking surprisingly calm despite how the boy had just now shouted at her. "I will admit, when I first met him, I didn't really know how to feel about him, or about anyone else on Earth. But after about a couple months, I started to feel a small infatuation. Five years after that, I had been able to get to know him so well, go through so much alongside him, and see the good, noble, and amazing person he is underneath all his walls and bristles to the point that this crush, unlike what I had with you, evolved into love. Real love. I'm sorry Ph'yzzon, but what I felt for you then and currently feel for Robin just simply are not the same."

Blackfire turned her head away from the conversation, a half disgusted, and half genuinely touched look on her face.

"No," said Cometbolt, now sounding almost heartbreakingly calm and quiet after how he'd earlier shouted. "I don't believe that. I can't believe that. I won't."

"Ph'yzzon, you have to."

"No. You're lying. You've just forgotten what it was like between us back then! What you think you have with that troq? That's what's fake! What was between us? Real on both sides, I swear to X'hal!"

"You are right about one thing," said Starfire. "I did forget about you. But one thing you don't know is that my forgetting was partially a consciously willed decision."

If a pin had dropped, the noise would have been deafening.

"I'll admit, losing my half of that promise amulet was unintentional. There were also some incidents before that moment where I legitimately forgot about you by accident. But now I remember that, by the time I'd settled on Earth and later come back to Tamaran for my almost wedding with Glgrdsklechhh, I had deliberately chosen to forget you entirely."

"But, why?" Ph'yzzon shook his head. "I spent two years searching for you after you were taken away from Tamaran! I willingly allowed myself to get drafted as a soldier in the war with the Gordanians so I could keep you and your family safe! Damn it Kori, I even resigned from my position as general so that I could search for you! Yet you choose to thank me like this? Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because at a point where I needed you, you weren't there."

Starfire hung her head. "Like you said, the day I was announced as heir came the very day after we split that amulet in half. But in the days that followed my being named heir, you seemed to just vanish from my life entirely and break your promise to never forget me."

"You'd just been announced as heir," said Ph'yzzon. "You said so yourself the night before that Komand'r was the one you'd thought would be the heir; and there were so many other changes and upheavals you ended up having to go through after you were named heir instead! I wanted to make sure I gave you adequate space and time to adapt to all the changes!"

"That would have only been necessary for a week, maybe two! Even with that in mind, it would still have been acceptable to allow me even a tiny amount of interaction between us! You gave me two whole months! Without _any_ interaction! You even actively went the other way during the times I tried to approach you!"

"I was trying to preserve your reputation," said Ph'yzzon, clearly desperate to defend himself and his position. "You were a princess for X'hal's sake! I was only a low-ranking palace guard! Surely you're smart enough to know what our people would have said about such an open bond between us now that you were firmly in the public eye as the outright heir to the throne?!"

"Since when had I ever cared about my own royal reputation?! I didn't even want to be the empress! I only went through with all that stuff that followed my being named heir because I thought it would be the best for Tamaran! And even if that hadn't been the case, that still doesn't excuse how you never even interacted with me in private anymore for two whole months! Do you have any idea how much easier it would have been for me to handle the weight of being betrothed to Karras if you'd been around to help me vent and feel what I believed to be a more genuine form of love?! Karras at least had Taryia! All I had were Galfore and Ryand'r! And if you think that your continued absence from my life while you were fighting in the war was any easier to handle, then you are the sadly mistaken!"

"I wanted to be certain you'd be able to handle my not being in your life anymore if I died in the war!"

"If you really loved me, you would have kept the bond strong _despite_ that risk!" She jerked her arms furiously against the cuffs holding her up. "You may have had the best intentions in mind, but it still doesn't change the fact that you practically abandoned me and chose your happiness over my own. Love is when you do the exact opposite of that!"

"Is that really you talking? Or is this just rubbish that your troq Earthling consort gave you?"

"It's the truth. Do you want to know how I learned that? From the very consort that you so flippantly dismiss right this very moment. Because only on the absolute rarest of occasions does he ever choose his duty over me. Whenever he does, he doesn't keep me waiting for needlessly long times like you did, but instead always makes sure to comfort me and help me feel better immediately after he's finished. He always comes back when I need him, and the one time I truly needed you most, you didn't. I'm sorry that all this causes you so much pain, but I am not the young and helpless girl you used to know. I am a brave, strong, and glorious warrior who has both made a hero out of herself and found real love. What we had just simply wasn't meant to be. Maybe if I hadn't been sold to the Gordanians, things could have potentially gotten worked out between us. But we can't change the past; and even if we could, enough good has come out of all that's happened that I simply don't want to change it. I've moved on Ph'yzzon; and as much as you may hate the idea, if you want to be happy, then you have to do the same."

There was a long pause after Starfire finished her little speech, and Ph'yzzon stared blankly at her the entire time. Then he sighed, and shook his head. "Well I'm sorry you feel that way." He directed a glare at her. "But I will thank you for both confirming my suspicions and allowing me to become aware of how your condition is in fact even worse then I thought. Fortunately, once tomorrow comes, I'll have this problem fixed in no time."

He turned and walked away from Starfire, who stared after him in half confusion and half fear. "Fixed? What do you mean?"

The white-haired Tamaranean drew a pair of ominous looking devices out of the shadows, and Starfire's eyes widened upon sight of them. "Ph'yzzon," she said. "Surely you cannot be serious?"

"Part of me didn't want to be," Ph'yzzon admitted. "But now, having been exposed to the full extent of how badly you've been affected by your time away from me on Earth, it is clear I have no other choice."

He pressed a button on the wall, causing a technological pillar to rise from the floor near where he stood. He placed the two devices on top of this pillar, opening up one of them and pressing some keys as if typing.

Starfire instantly tensed up in fear. "What are you doing?"

"No need to worry," Ph'yzzon spat. "I'm not going to use these yet. Right now, I'm just getting them ready for when I do."

"Ph'yzzon, you don't have to do this. You still have a chance. From what I hear, you fought honorably in the war against Gordania! Surely there are still members of our people who are aware of your deeds and would be willing to speak in your favor if you let me go and turned yourself in!"

"Turn myself in?" he asked incredulously. "Let you go? Let all of Tamaran continue to just stand back and allow you to throw your life away on Earth without a fight? You're only proving me right with every attempt to convince me otherwise Kori."

"I'm not throwing my life away! Have you not listened to a word I've said?! My life's never been better Ph'yzzon! I am free from the pressures of royalty! I have a new home that I love, and where I am even more of a hero then you! I have friends who love me!"

"Friends who don't deserve you! Not to mention one in particular who you share a love with that commits the crime of being stronger then what rightfully belongs between you and _me_!" He pressed a final series of keys on the Psion mind manipulator, and then shut it down. "But no matter. Once tomorrow comes and I've killed those four Earth vermin who dared to befriend you in my absence, I will use these machines to allow us to start over with a clean slate. From then on, we shall spend the rest of our lives together on Tamaran with your sister as the empress of the entire Vega System. And we'll be as happy together as we used to be before you were taken by the Gordanians!"

"I already _am_ happy Ph'yzzon! I am happier even then I was on Tamaran as a child! Why can you not see that?!"

"You only think you're happy because you've forgotten the real happiness you had on Tamaran with me. But fear not, with these machines, I will be able to remind you of all that, and with the troq you replaced me with and those other three pests you befriended alongside him dead, the rest of Tamaran too busy under your sister's rule to do anything about it once her conquest is over, and the entirety of every other system in the universe enshrouded in darkness, neither of us will have any need to worry about you forgetting it ever again!"

"What about your honor!? X'hal damn it Ph'yzzon! What about all your heroics from the war?! What about the happy memories we had together before then that you could have been treasuring instead of pursuing all this insanity!? Does all that mean nothing to you?!"

"I could have all the heroism, glory, and privilege as the last living honorable male Kryptonian; and all of that would still be meaningless to me without you in my life to share it with!"

Ph'yzzon took a deep breath, and then glared furiously at Starfire. "I'm sorry you feel so unhappy about this, but I am not going to let you keep wasting your life under delusions of love with a bunch of troqs that couldn't be more beneath you. That is final." He turned his back to her. "But fear not. As I said, the moment in which I allow us both to start over and live our lives the correct way won't come till tomorrow when they arrive to rescue you and do battle with your sister."

He snapped his fingers, and glowed with an aura of blue light. When this aura faded away, two blue light constructs shaped exactly like him materialized beside him and took the form of two duplicates of himself. "For now," the three Ph'yzzons said in unison, "I shall leave to do my part for guard duty, and leave you and your sister to talk things out further. So for now, farewell Kori." Ph'yzon and his two binary clones flew out of the room, leaving the two Tamaranean royal sisters alone.

Blackfire sighed, and hung her head. "I never thought I'd say this, but I truly am sorry for what Cometbolt plans to do to you. I would have preferred to grant you a dignified and honorable death in combat. But, from a certain point of view, I've come to realize from Cometbolt's own explanation that such a fate could arguably be considered too kind."

Starfire directed her head towards her sister, half furious and half in tears. "Blackfire. Why do you hate me so much? I know that life wasn't easy for you back on Tamaran during our childhoods, but all that was beyond my control. Does all that stuff that happened to you without my direct involvement when we were younger truly justify the lengths you are currently willing to go to?"

There was an uncomfortably long pause as Blackfire considered her younger sister's question. Then she sighed, and looked straight at Starfire. "To be honest with you, I don't know." She hung her head. "I'll admit, there is a small part of me that genuinely loves you as a sister. There are even times where I truly wish that particular part of me was bigger and stronger. But every other part of me. . ."

She sighed. "Look, maybe in another life, we could have been proper loving sisters and been the best of familial friends the way siblings should be. But after all that's happened the last five years, and after all the stuff that was either denied to me or outright robbed from me during my childhood simply because you existed. . ." She shook her head, a small tear leaving her right eye. "I've come too far now. We both have. I tried to love you sister; and when that failed, I thrice tried to get rid of you through comparatively lowkey means. But with all those efforts having since failed, I have no other choice now. What's about to happen tomorrow, morally reprehensible though it may be, is simply the only available option left. As reluctant as I may feel to say this, it just simply must be done."

She looked at Starfire, who indeed looked quite saddened now, but also confused. "You said you tried to get rid of me three times before now, but I can only count two such times. When was the 3rd time?"

"You still haven't figured it out?

Starfire raised her eyebrow, and Blackfire sighed once more. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all, with how well our people knew you before you were taken away, not to mention how much you still loved and trusted me even before I tried to frame you for stealing that Centauri Moon diamond, it would only make sense that none of them would have had the heart to tell you. And judging by what Cometbolt told me about his time on Gordania while working to capture you, it would appear the Gordanians are all too happy to wipe the whole unpleasant business under the rug now that the old alliance between them and our kind is officially reborn."

"What are you talking . . .?" Starfire's eyes widened in horror. "Blackfire? Surely you're not saying . . .?"

"Yes Starfire. _I_ was the one who sold you to the Gordanians."

Starfire reacted instantly, jerking herself forward and straining furiously against the trio of cuffs holding her in place. "YOU MONSTER!" she yelled.

"Look Starfire, I know you're upset. . ."

"That is the understatement, and you know it!" Starfire snarled, her eyes straining to glow. "Beast Boy was right, you _did_ kill our parents! You broke their hearts enough for them to die of grief!"

"I know, and I regret that. I truly do. All I wanted was for them and the rest of our people to treat me with the same amount of respect and love that they treated you with. To look at me as if I were a hero and a true worthy princess instead of a leper and abomination. To allow me to be granted the throne and other privileges that tradition demanded should have been mine but were given to you instead."

"But they didn't," Starfire hissed. "The Gordanians told them about how you were the one who sold me to them, didn't they? And our parents had you exiled for it! By X'hal, now I know what Greerak meant when he said you were twice exiled!"

"Indeed."

"Well what about Wildfire? Did you kill him to?"

Blackfire's eyes widened. "He's dead?"

Starfire's angry look became confused. "You mean you don't know where he is either?"

"No. I wish I did though." She hung her head. "Maybe if he hadn't vanished, maybe things would have ended so much happier for us." She turned her back to Starfire. "Who knows. Perhaps I'll find him some time after conquering Tamaran tomorrow. I'm sure the Umbrosians will spare him if I let them be aware of him and politely ask them to let me have him live on Tamaran with me once more. After how everything's gone down between us, and especially after what's going to be done tomorrow, it's probably the least I can do." She lifted her head. "I must go now. I have a lot of planning to do with the Umbrosian council and my army. It truly was nice to talk to you one more time before Ph'yzzon had your mind altered by those Psion machines. Farewell sister."

Blackfire departed, leaving Starfire alone where she stood.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed it and leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I will allow the next chapter to be posted). All that said, hooboy Starfire's in a fix. Not to mention she's finally learned exactly who was responsible for selling her to the Gordanians all those years ago. And on another note, she has finally come to remember her old crush from Tamaran before the war. That in mind, perhaps I should give some background on Ph'yzzon as he is known from the comics. You see, in the comics, Starfire and Dick Grayson very nearly married each other. Unfortunately, right as the priest that was hired was seconds away from saying the last words that would seal the deal, Raven ended up ruining everything. Now, to be fair, she was working unwillingly under Trigon's influence at the time, and she both apologized and resumed her usual heroic nature some time afterward. But by then, the damage had already been done, and Starfire eventually ended up temporarily leaving Earth and returning to Tamaran. During her time back on Tamaran, she ended up marrying for the 2nd time in her life (for you see, unlike in this fanfiction, she and Karras actually DID go through with the marriage; and Karras himself had ended up being killed in the time between the marriage and Starfire's eventual return to Tamaran). Her new husband in question? None other than Ph'yzzon. So yeah, with all that comic book information in mind, and the direction I plan to take the titans and whatnot in my fanfiction, I chose (half out of pragmatism and half out of personal shipping tastes) to give P'yzzon the 'adaptational villainy' treatment. So there. All that said, again, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and leave plenty of feedback! Things are only going to get better and more awesome (I hope) from here! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: The titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians have arrived in the space not too far outside of Tamaran, ready to clash with Blackfire and the Umbrosians once more in the battle that will decide the fate of the universe. And as the Tamaraneans and Gordanians keep the larger army under Blackfire's control busy, the titans sneak aboard Blackfire's ship to rescue Starfire. Just what sort of experience will they undergo in the process? Find out next time ya'll!**


	14. This Means War!

**Hey ya'll! Hope you are all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this new chapter, the time has come for both the final clash against Blackfire's forces and the effort to rescue Starfire. How will things unfold? And more specifically, just what will the titans have to deal with while they sneak through Blackfire's ship to rescue their captive team mate? Sound exciting and worth finding out? I certainly hope so! I also hope very much that you read, enjoy, and review! And all that said, onward with the fic!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you know that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. NOW, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 13:**

 **This Means War!**

The very next day, the entirety of the combined Gordanian and Tamaranean army's fleet of starships were gathered in the vicinity of Tamaran, waiting for Blackfire and her forces to arrive. Robin, however, was much less patient in his waiting compared to everyone else as he and the other titans waited in the T-ship from their position in the very back of the fleet.

"Are you sure we wouldn't have been better off going out and actively searching for them?" Robin asked.

"You heard what Galfore said," said Cyborg. "The note specifically stated that Blackfire and her army would meet us within the vicinity of Tamaran. With how far away from Tamaran Umbrosia is and how Blackfire could easily be holed up Lord knows where else now that she apparently has her own ship, it would be wiser to wait for her and her forces to arrive here and then sneak onboard Blackfire's ship while the rest of the alliance's army is busy battling with the Umbrosians."

Robin sighed, and slumped in his compartment's seat. "Well ok, that is true. But I'm just so worried about Star. From what the note said, and past history would indicate, something horrible could be happening to her right this very moment."

"If that is in fact happening, we'll put a stop to it when we find her," said Cyborg.

"Yeah," Beast Boy added, "and we'll make whoever's responsible for it pay!"

Raven nodded silently, just as eager as the boys to save her friend.

Their comms went off, and Robin answered first. "Yes?"

"Robin," said Galfore's voice, "do you read me?"

"Yes."

"Good. I have received word from our scouts that Blackfire and her army are getting close to our location and should arrive soon. You remember the plan?"

"Yes, I do." Robin nodded his head. "Are you sure you don't want any of us to stay outside to help you?"

"We'll be fine," said Galfore. "Besides, we have no idea who or what might be on Blackfire's ship alongside her. As long as we don't know for sure, it is wise to err on the side of caution. Believe me, you will be wise to have all the help you can get from having all your friends alongside you when you go on board that ship."

"If you say so."

"One more thing." Galfore seemed to take a deep breath. "Whatever happens today, you and your friends had _better_ get yourselves off that ship with Starfire alive and well. You hear me? If you depart Blackfire's ship without Starfire for any reason, then by X'hal, there will be no distance or god that will prevent me from making sure you pay for doing so."

Robin gulped, and nodded his head nervously. "Understood."

"Good. I will sign off now. I must be ready to lead my army in the coming conflict. Good luck. Do not fail." Galfore ended the transmission.

Cyborg whistled, having overheard the entire conversation on his comm. "Hooboy, Star's old man has got you down pal."

"You do know Galfore's not Star's dad, right?"

"Yes, I know that BB, but as far as Rob's concerned, Galfore might as well be Star's dad."

"This is an important conversation right now?" Raven dryly asked.

"Quiet guys," said Robin. "We need to keep watch so we know when it's time to initiate the plan."

"You've got that right," said Cyborg. "The sooner we get on Blackfire's ship, save Star, and kick some hostile alien butt in the process, the better."

"I hear you," Beast Boy agreed. "Let's not forget how that arrow thing Taryia and Karras gave us ought to make things a heck of a lot easier."

Raven nodded, and lifted up the arrow in question from her compartment's dashboard. This arrow, made from a native Phosphorian metal, was designed to instantly kill any Umbrosians it pierced; an ability that would be especially useful if they encountered any Umbrosians on Blackfire's ship. For as Taryia and Karras had explained to them, Umbrosians were apparently able to possess freshly killed dead bodies as a means to shield themselves against any light that wasn't specially designed with their physiology in mind.

"Don't get to confident, we still need to be on guard for potentially encountering Ulragor and his men. If Greerak is correct in his suspicions, Ulragor may have given away the information Star's kidnapper needed in order to find her yesterday in exchange for him and his men joining forces with Blackfire."

Beast Boy snarled, and flexed his fingers together. "Oh don't you worry, I'm looking forward to seeing him again, if only for the chance to kick his ass! Blackfire and her crew can't get here soon enough!"

"You can say that again," said Cyborg. He pointed towards the front of the fleet. "Because we've got company!"

The titans all looked in time to see a swarm of the glowing red lights of the Umbrosian ship 'eyes' heading in the fleet's direction from within a giant vortex of shadows.

"Get ready team," said Robin.

"Don't need to tell us twice," said Cyborg as he, Raven, and Beast Boy prepared themselves alongside their fearless leader.

As they watched, a sizable number of small Umbrosian ships came flying out of the vortex . . . a considerably larger number then they'd expected for that matter.

"Holy moly, that's a lot of ships," said Beast Boy.

"You don't say," said Raven.

Right as the arrival of smaller Umbrosian ships finally started to wind down, the titans and the rest of the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian army found further reason for concern when a comparatively smaller number of gigantic ships began to emerge from the vortex as well. It took one look at these particular ships for the titans and Tamaraneans to recognize them as the exact same model as the ship that had originally forced the Titans and the Tamaranean royal starship to land on Gordania.

Beast Boy gulped. "And I thought we had trouble staying alive against just _one_ of those things."

"I hear you buddy," said Cyborg. "Man, I sure hope Galfore and the rest know what they're doing."

"Me to Cy," said Robin. "Me to."

After the last of the giant Umbrosian warships emerged from the portal, one final other ship came slowly flying out of the vortex. At the sight of this ship, the entirety of the gathered forces couldn't help but feel both terrified and awestruck. It was easy to tell that whoever had designed this ship had taken inspiration from the appearance of the Tamaranean royal starship. This ship, however, was bigger, longer, and also more ostentatiously decorated. Instead of having an orange head with black stripes, this ship was entirely purple all over. The back end of this ship was longer and more obviously reminiscent of a tail. It had four wings altogether, multiple fin-like extensions all over the ship's back and tail, and several wickedly sharp looking curved claw-like extensions sticking out from the sides of the wings in lieu of the fin-like extensions that were on the undersides of the royal starship's wings. Instead of settling for merely a pair of fang-like extensions underneath the nose, this ship had its entire head carved into the shape of what looked to the titans like the head of a saber-toothed lynx-like creature.

Beast Boy whistled. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm willing to bet cash money that that's Blackfire's ship."

"Get ready," said Robin. "Raven, as soon as the combat starts, you're going to teleport us to behind that ship."

"Acknowledged."

. . . . .

Galfore narrowed his eyes at the sight of the gobsmackingly vast fleet of enemy ships before him and his own fleet.

"Are you sure that we can handle this?"

Galfore sighed upon hearing this question. "For Koriand'r's sake, our people's sake, and the sake of X'hal knows who else, we'll just have to try."

Both pilots gulped, and nodded their heads. "If you say so."

Galfore nodded, and accessed his communicator. "Attention, this is your Emperor speaking. Are you ready?"

"Yes your Excellency," came the resounding shout of everyone in the Tamaranean portion of the army.

"Good. Get ready to attack. The enemy will be in position soon."

Greerak, meanwhile, was similarly glaring with narrowed eyes at the approaching enemy fleet, and he accessed his own communicator transmission.

"Everyone," he hissed. "This is your king speaking. Do you read me?"

"Yes your Majesty," said all the Gordanian soldiers.

"Good." Greerak nodded his head. "Ready yourselves. The time to attack is nigh."

The enemy fleet came to a stop, both sides staring each other down. Then the red 'eyes' of all the Umbrosian ships started to glow.

"Attack now!" Galfore yelled

"Fire!" Greerak roared.

All the Tamaranean and Gordanian ships immediately opened fire, taking out 50 of the Umbrosian ships before the enemy finally began to fire their own blasters. In the maelstrom of blaster fire that ensued, not a single being on board the actively fighting ships noticed the one orange spaceship amongst the bunch suddenly getting engulfed by shadowy energy and vanishing from its post at the very back of the combined Tamaranean Gordanian fleet.

. . . . .

Starfire thrashed and writhed where she stood, struggling desperately to free herself from the three cuffs and shake off the inhibitor headband. She hissed angrily as she did so. "X'hal curse you," she thought to herself. So far, her cuffs remained tightly clamped across her wrists and feet, and the headband remained securely clenched around her forehead. "If I just had my star bolts or beams, I'd already be out of here."

She clenched her fists and hung her head, growling in rage. "I hate this!"

At the sound of footsteps, she lifted her head, eyebrow raised as she wondered who was coming. Then the door opened, and her eyes narrowed in rage. It was Ph'yzzon. "You," she snarled.

Ph'yzzon raised his eyebrow, seemingly not concerned about Starfire's current tone. "Good day to you to."

"If you've come here to gloat, make it the zipped. I am not in the mood. Where's Blackfire?"

"In the pilot chamber. She believed that would be her best vantage point to watch the conflict outside and adequately judge when, if ever, she'd need to use her summoning marble to call upon the Black Entity for help." He directed a look outside a nearby window. "Though judging by the current odds, I'd say it's unlikely that the Black Entity's involvement will be needed."

"As a former general, you should not be so quick to dismiss the chances of the very army you used to serve," said Starfire.

"That army has done nothing for me. They certainly didn't do anything to help me during the two years I spent searching for you, or in the subsequent three years I spent figuring out how to get you back after I finally found out where you were. And considering how the war with the Gordanians only ended via a ceasefire brought about by some beast amongst our people choosing to sell you to them, I very much doubt that even the might of our people's army combined with that of our former enemies will be enough to fight and defeat the military power of Umbrosia.

"As for those unworthy Earth friends of yours," he chuckled. "Don't even mention them. It would take a miracle for them to even hope to defeat the multiple Umbrosians and defected Gordanians on board this ship, let alone defeat me."

"Your arrogance is most unbecoming," said Starfire. "As I will gladly tell you from experience, you don't know the half of how powerful those same friends you casually dismiss as harmless truly are. Do trust me when I say that, contrary to your doubts, they _will_ save me."

"You're right about one thing," Ph'yzzon snorted. "I don't know their power. But I do know my own. Trust me Kori, you are wrong." He chuckled, went over to a nearby computer screen, and typed in a code. "Nonetheless, I will enjoy watching them trying futilely to prove you right on the security cameras of this ship."

He accessed the security cameras, specifically making sure to directly access the ones designed to view the outside of the ship while setting the interior camera feed aside to watch later. "And don't even think about trying to call on a certain entity to bust you out." He pointed to his right at a large dome that contained none other than the very crystalline orb that Starfire had been given by the Prime Entity. "That thing will only react if you say the necessary words while touching it, and the only way to open that dome is for exclusively my palm to touch the button designed to open and close it. So face the facts Kori. Unless by some miracle I am defeated by those worms, you're staying where you are."

. . . . .

The T-ship emerged from a shadowy portal directly behind Blackfire's ship. Robin narrowed his eyes. "Ok team," he said. "Right now, all we need to do is figure out just how we're going to get on the ship."

"Couldn't I have just teleported us all onto there instead of behind it?" Raven asked.

"Too risky," said Robin. "Considering how much we'd potentially be mistaken for Umbrosians before fully emerging if we tried that, and the deadly nature of the ship's interior to Umbrosians without vessels, teleporting us onto the ship's interior would draw too much attention from the get go. If there's any way we can get on without running as much risk of instant attention being drawn to us, then I'm willing to find out what it is."

"Considering how worried you were not too long ago about Star's wellbeing, and the threat Galfore has sent against you if we fail, you'd best hope that this method doesn't take too long to figure out," said Cyborg.

"I know, I know," said Robin.

"Wish granted."

Upon hearing Beast Boy say this, the other titans looked in the direction the shape shifter was pointing just in time to see what looked like a pair of opening hangar doors near the base of the ship's tail.

"Well talk about lucky," said Cyborg.

"Titans, activate the cloaking technology!"

All four titans pressed the necessary buttons, with Robin hurriedly entering in a supplemental code into his compartment's computer. In a flash, with what looked like a holographic flicker, the T-ship turned invisible, and then flew directly towards the open hangar doors from above right as a small swarm of Gordanian battleships flew out to join the Umbrosian attackers.

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he got a look at a strange marking he saw on the backs of the ships in question. "That sigil," he whispered, "I saw it on Ulragor's armor during that council meeting we attended."

"Well that definitely confirms the rumors of him and his men turning traitor against us," said Robin. He shook his head. "To think that he accused all his fellow nobles of being cowards and casting aside their honor by doing the exact same thing he's just done."

"What a hypocrite," said Raven.

"Let's keep moving, we don't want to still be out here when those doors close."

The other titans did not need to be told twice. They picked up the pace of the ship's flight. Thankfully, they made it through the hangar doors, passing right above the very last ship to depart in the process. By the time the hangar doors had closed, the invisible T-ship had landed upon the hangar floor. After several minutes, and the strokes of several keys, the ship's cloaking technology was deactivated, and the four teenage heroes disembarked.

They looked around the room. "Ok," said Cyborg. "Where's the nearest exit?"

"I see it, right there," said Robin, pointing at a nearby door opposite the hangar doors. "Come on."

"Wait."

The boys paused immediately upon hearing Raven. She lifted her hand. "I sense that there are enemies present on the other side of that door."

Beast Boy tilted his head as if listening with his right ear in the air. "I can definitely hear something in there now that you mention it. Surprised my instincts didn't pick up on it before."

Cyborg then noticed what looked like a computer attached to a mechanical extension poking out of a nearby wall. He walked over to it. "Let me see if this thing can help us here." He pressed on multiple keys as he proceeded to attempt to hack into the device. After about a minute, he'd successfully hacked into the machine. He shook his head in bemusement. "You'd think that advanced alien tech like this would be harder to hack into."

"Don't begrudge your own good luck," said Beast Boy.

Robin walked up to Cyborg. "Anything useful on there?"

"Checking, checking, oh, security camera footage; that could be useful."

"Get into that," said Robin.

Cyborg did so, a massive number of video feeds popping up onto the screen immediately afterwards. The other titans watched as Cyborg looked through each video feed square to see if he could find one that would give them an idea of what they were up against in the room immediately behind the door they wanted to go through. Then Cyborg's eyes narrowed at one tiny detail within one of the video feeds. He looked towards the door, then back at the camera footage, and then at his friends. "I've found the room we're trying to get into." He stepped aside so that the other titans could look at the video feed in question. "Here's who we've got on the other side of that door."

Beast Boy silently whistled upon sight of the two beings that currently appeared to be fast asleep on swivel chairs positioned in front of a desk with a giant array of tv-screen-like devices showing security camera footage. "Hoowee, I was not expecting to see Jaguaro and the Gator Ghoul on this ship."

Robin's own eyes narrowed upon sight of the humanoid alligator and saber-toothed cat headed ape-like figure on the screen. "I guess these two must be vessels for Umbrosians."

"Those two aren't the only ones," said Cyborg. He allowed the other titans to have a look at the various other camera feeds. "There's God knows how many more elsewhere aboard this ship."

The other titans noticed. "There sure are a lot of Umbrosians guarding the interior," said Robin.

"I'll say. Judging from the look of their vessels, they had quite a variety of different species providing dead bodies for them to possess too," said Beast Boy.

"Makes one wonder how many graveyards had to be robbed to account for them all," Raven droned.

"They're not the only guards either," said Cyborg. "Looks like Ulragor's still on board, and so are all of his men who didn't feel like going outside to do battle today."

Robin rolled his eyes, and turned his head to face the door, his eyes narrowing once again upon sight of a keycard receptor on the wall to the right of the door. "Apparently we require a keycard. Wonderful."

"That shouldn't be too big of a problem, at least not for this door anyway." Cyborg pointed at an onscreen tab for a different program. "I can probably hack that door open, and then we can take out those two sleeping guards and swipe a keycard off of one of them."

Robin thought to himself. "Sounds good."

"We should probably figure out just which way to go to get to Starfire now," said Raven. "While we're still under the radar."

"Good thinking," said Beast Boy.

Cyborg looked through the camera feeds, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Ok," he said. "I think I've got a basic route planned out." He proceeded to explain, using various appropriate security feeds as a visual aid. "Once we get through these two punks in that security room, the door opposite them leads into a simple hallway. The door on the opposite end leads into a large chamber filled with multiple interconnecting catwalks. From there, we just go straight up a stairway, straight forward across the resulting catwalk, then go down another stairway, and we can access what looks like some sort of computer room. We could probably hole up in there long enough for me to hack into the ship's mainframe and get all the security gadgets and other onboard technology to help level the playing board even further in our favor."

"Don't forget we still have this," said Raven as she held up the phosphorium arrow.

"Right," said Cyborg. "That should also prove handy during our time in that computer room. Not to mention, considering how we'll almost certainly have to deal with more guards on the way to that computer room, that arrow will definitely come in handy even before we get there."

"Sounds like we've got a plan then." Robin rammed his left fist into his right palm. "We hack our way through that door, use the arrow to take out those two guards, and get a key off of them. Then we make our way to this computer room, fighting off any guards we encounter on the way as needed. Upon reaching the computer room, Cyborg uses his hacking to get the ship itself to take out as much of the opposition for us as it can alongside the arrow. Once we've gotten the odds lowered to as far in our favor as we can possibly manage from in there, we make our way straight to where Starfire is." He raised his eyebrow. "How do we reach Starfire from there?"

"From the computer room, we enter another hallway, take a right, then a left, pass by three alternate hallways, then go across a catwalk over what appears to be a pit full of lava, then go up this corkscrew-shaped ramp. And at the very top of that ramp, we go through a door, and voila! We've reached Star."

"Perfect. Ready guys?"

"Just a second."

Beast Boy hurried over to take a look at something that had caught his interest on the computer.

"What are you doing?"

"Just a minute, ah-ha!" He pressed another onscreen tab. "Nice! This ship has an onboard radio and setlist! And it looks like Blackfire even managed to somehow include some Earth songs! I know just the one to play!"

The other titans raised their eyebrows incredulously. "Why is this important?"

"Well, with what we're about to do, I thought, why not take the opportunity to have a little fun while we're doing it?"

. . . . .

The two sleeping Umbrosians were suddenly awakened and caught quite off guard when they heard what sounded like music suddenly blaring from the ship's intercom system.

"What the?" asked one of the Umbrosians, who happened to be possessing the dead body of a Bastetian robber. "Where's that music coming from?"

"The onboard radio," growled his partner, who was possessing a deceased Suchonian gangster. "It's coming from the hangar. Probably some wiseass trying to pull a prank. Come on."

The two got up from their seats, the Suchonian vessel drawing out his key card and opening the door to the hangar. They both took five steps forward before they both reared back in surprise at the sight of none other than the four friends of the Tamaranean they were holding prisoner standing right there next to the hangar's computer. But the sight of the golden arrow floating above them thanks to a ring of black energy around the center that matched the similar energy glowing in the cloaked girl's eyes caused them both to step back in fear. "Oh shi . . ." the Bastetian vessel managed to whimper.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," said Raven as she proceeded to send the phosphorium arrow flying through a nearby wall. It then burst out of the wall behind the security camera footage screens. The Bastetian vessel turned around to look behind it just in time for the arrow to plunge into its chest and straight through its heart before it did a single loop de loop, rocketed through the Suchonian vessel's back and heart, burst out of its chest and flew straight into Raven's lifted right hand; all while the song Beast Boy had selected was just starting to play the first of its lyrics.

With a puff of dark energy, the two Umbrosians burst into nothing, leaving the two now empty vessels teetering on their feet, the Bastetian even miraculously managing to turn itself around to face the wall where the computer was located, before they both fell to the floor on their faces. Robin wasted no time, getting down on his knees and swiping the Suchonian's keycard out of its hand.

He rushed over to the door and opened it with the keycard. The four titans confidently entered the security chamber, Beast Boy even turning into a lion and growling in anticipation while Raven kept the arrow floating along in the air behind them.

. . . . .

In the room where she was being kept imprisoned, Starfire raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?" she said, quite uncertain as to what was going on, or where the music she was suddenly hearing was coming from.

Ph'yzzon was similarly confused, and he turned his head away from the video feed from the micro security cameras attached outside the ship, only for his eyes to widen in horror at the sight of what he ended up seeing on the video feed for the interior security cameras.

"By X'hal! I thought they were still outside!"

He hurried over to a nearby intercom system, pressing the transmission button. "They're here!" he yelled. "The other titans! They're on the ship!"

Upon hearing these words, Starfire's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped in half shock and half joy. Meanwhile, as Ph'yzzon saw on the video feed, all the guards on the ship hurriedly proceeded to either pick up their weapons or charge up their shadowy energy blasts.

"Go!" yelled Ulragor.

. . . . .

As the song continued to play over the intercom, the four titans continued to proudly slow walk down the hallway they'd entered, Beast Boy with an apparent smug grin plastered on his lion form's face while the other three titans kept stern and focused looks on their own faces.

From the hallways to the left and right of the door they were heading towards, came a large squadron of Umbrosian vessels that began to run headlong straight towards the titans. Remaining perfectly calm, the titans kept walking towards the approaching enemies while Raven simultaneously sent the arrow flying straight towards the group.

The attackers had just enough time to skid to a stop with horrified looks frozen on their faces before the arrow plunged into the chest of the humanoid wild boar-like figure at the very front. No sooner had the arrow gone through this vessel's heart and exited out of its back when it then began to rapidly zoom along in loop de loops while thrusting its way in and out through the chests, hearts, and backs of each of the vessels in the group. The last three to be summarily dispatched in this fashion were first a greenish gray cloak-like figure, then a chartreuse skinned zombie-like being, and finally a green humanoid pterosaur.

The titans continued walking through the hallway, completely unphased as the myriad vessels collapsed to the floor as the Umbrosians that had originally possessed them evaporated into black mist and departed from their now useless host bodies. With all the immediate opposition thoroughly taken out of the way, the titans reached the desired door with no trouble.

They entered the next room, a large chamber of catwalks just as Cyborg had said. What looked like a humanoid praying mantis turned its head and pointed its left arm at them from a catwalk above them. "Down there!"

Without a word, Raven sent the arrow flying off to take him out, as well as all the other Umbrosian vessels that came charging into the room immediately after this shout. With almost ludicrously swift speed, every single Umbrosian that entered the room was slaughtered where it stood, leaving their now twice dead vessels to collapse on their faces, or sometimes even fall over the side of the catwalks. One Umbrosian that had possessed what looked like a humanoid rat got a particularly ignominious death in that it was only 3 seconds after he entered the area before the arrow came flying through his backside and out of his chest, prompting him to let out an emasculating scream of shock before the Umbrosian evaporated and the now empty vessel fell over the side of the catwalk it had been standing on.

Eventually, Beast Boy happened to turn his head to his right, and his lion eyes narrowed at the sight of a very nervous looking Gordanian standing on an upper catwalk looking down towards him and the titans before it turned and started to run away. The Gordanian had enough time to look back and scream when he saw a green vulture fly up to the catwalk fence he'd been leaning against. This vulture reached the area where the Gordanian had originally been standing before morphing into a Utahraptor in midair and chasing after the Gordanian immediately after landing.

The Gordanian, too terrified to even remember he could fly, was too slow to outrun Beast Boy, and the green raptor leaped upon his back, pinning him face down on the catwalk. The Gordanian lifted his head, and screamed at the sight of Beast Boy's Utahraptor face snarling savagely at him while looking down at him.

Beast Boy bit the Gordanian on the tail, swung him around, and then threw him forcefully down over the side of the catwalk. The Gordanian plummeted with a scream, before landing headfirst on the floor of the room and finding himself unconscious upon impact. One catwalk the Gordanian had passed by while falling was the very one Beast Boy's fellow titans were now on as they made their way up the final stairway leading to the computer room, and the changeling jumped down to that catwalk to catch up with them, shifting back to human form and landing smoothly on his feet in the process. He entered the computer room seconds after they'd already taken up positions within.

Cyborg hacked into the main computer, then set all the other computer screens to show security camera footage. At which point, Raven used her view of the video feeds to send the arrow flying off to eliminate every remaining Umbrosian vessel she could find, sometimes getting rather creative in the process. While Raven was busy with the arrow and Robin and Beast Boy watched, Cyborg hacked further into the ship's mainframe and caused all the various security gadgets installed to activate and start attacking the Gordanians on board, but making sure that they were all set to nonlethal mode. Nonetheless, he still winced when he accidentally caused one of the security laser blasters to blast a backup ship hanging from the ceiling free of its moorings and let it fall down on top of a small group of Gordanians.

"How many more are left?" Robin eventually asked.

Raven summoned the arrow back to her hand through a shadowy vortex. "I've got all the vessels taken care of." She sent it to a pocket dimension in a flash of shadows.

"Looks like all the remaining Gordanians are holing up in that one final tunnel we still need to go through," said Beast Boy.

Robin thought to himself, and then nodded. "Sounds perfect. We can take them." He turned and ran towards the door that would lead to the final set of hallways between them and Starfire. "Titans move!"

. . . . .

"No!" Ph'yzzon yelled, slamming his fist on the desk where the computer screen was located. "No! No! No! No!"

Starfire, despite herself, couldn't help but chuckle. "Like I told you," she said. "Those same friends of mine that you were so willing to dismiss as not a threat are far more powerful then you are willing to give them credit for."

Ph'yzzon snarled, and pointed his finger at Starfire. "Don't get too confident Kori! They may have killed off all the Umbrosians aboard this ship and taken out the majority of Ulragor's men! But they've still got one more obstacle to get through that could yet do them in before they can get here!"

Starfire chuckled again. "You mean Ulragor and what few of his men still remain conscious? Surely you won't delude yourself into thinking they stand a chance after what's happened to all his men who've already tried."

"Oh they won't be a challenge for those freaks. I'm not gonna fool myself into thinking otherwise." He then raised his finger, a smug grin forming on his face and his old familiar confidence returning to his voice. "But remember that lava pit chamber located not too far outside this very room? There's an especially dangerous obstacle in that pit; and I'm not talking about the lava." He chuckled darkly. "Yes, let's see if those pesky friends and that inferior replacement consort of yours can handle _that_."

. . . . .

A small squadron of Gordanians came rushing towards the titans immediately upon exit from the computer room. Cyborg activated his sonic cannon and fired straight at the incoming assailants, sending the Gordanian would be attackers flying backwards. "Booyah!" he yelled as the Gordanians were knocked out by the blast.

The titans reached the first intersection, and they were just about to head to the right when they heard shouting and hissing coming from the left tunnel. The boys' eyes widened upon sight of more Gordanians coming at them from the left tunnel, but Raven remained calm. Her eyes and hands glowing, she shouted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

First a series of what looked like overhead sprinklers, and then the open doorway immediately to the titans' left, glowed with Raven's black energy. Then the doors closed, sealing the charging Gordanians in the hallway. Seconds after the Gordanians were heard shouting and banging on the door, there was a hiss, and the sound of gas filling the hallway behind the door was heard alongside the coughing and hissing of the Gordanians.

"The knockout gas hall trap," Cyborg said, having noticed the programming for this very trap during his time hacking. "Clever."

The titans turned to their intended hallway in time to see more Gordanians come rushing towards them from that way. Beast Boy snarled. "You guys need to chill." He turned into a polar bear, reared up on his hind legs, and roared savagely at the oncoming assailants. The Gordanians continued rushing towards the titans, completely oblivious and dismissive to the competent threat that Beast Boy had turned into. They soon found out the hard way how wrong this dismissal was when they found themselves slashed, smacked, knocked out, and similarly put out of commission by Beast Boy's powerful polar bear form's attacks.

He rushed over to the opening to the hallway that led straight to the lava pit, and turned around in time to see all the remaining Gordanians within tensing up and getting into battle positions. Beast Boy growled, turned into a rhino, and charged down the hall. The Gordanians, caught off guard and with no time to adequately react, were completely bulldozed into submission as Beast Boy the rhino plowed his way through them all. Robin, seeing how much progress the shapeshifter was making down the hallway, hurriedly fired his grappling gun at the ceiling portion in the very middle of the hall, swung down the hall, and landed on the charging Beast Boy's back. Riding daringly on Beast Boy while standing fully upright, he waited till just the right moment in the rhino form's charge before jumping off in time to deal one of the final Gordanian soldiers present a powerful flying kick to the chest.

No sooner had the boy wonder taken out the first of these warriors and Beast Boy skidded to a stop when Robin proceeded to thoroughly kick the remaining Gordanian guards' butts. He drew out his bo staff, and slammed one of the Gordanians in the head, knocking off its helmet and knocking it out. Then he turned around and threw one of his flame disks at another Gordanian, sending it flying into a nearby wall with the force of the resulting explosion. Then he turned around, blocked a swing from a Gordanian's trident with his staff, swung it free of the Gordanian's hands, and then knocked it out and away with a swift blow to its throat from his staff.

Next Robin turned around, lifted the staff in vertical position, and then slammed the bottom end down on an approaching Gordanian warrior's right foot. The would-be attacker hissed in pain, hopping up and down on its left foot, only to wheeze in discomfort and bend over when Robin's next staff blow struck it in the groin. It was then sent stumbling backward by a punch to the face, at which point it crashed into another Gordanian behind it and caused them both to fall to the floor unconscious. With an inarticulate yell of rage and determination, Robin jumped into the air, turned a complete 180, and sent another Gordanian warrior rocketing backwards with a pounding spinning kick to the face.

No sooner had he taken out this latest assailant when he turned around to face the doorway to the lava pit just in time to see Ulragor and one final warrior enter the room and start to rush across the catwalk above the lava, the sound of gongs blasting through the air within as two flying Gordanian servants banged incessantly on gongs in their hands.

"Hey!" Robin yelled as he started running after the two fleeing Gordanians, drawing the keycard back out of his utility belt in the process. "Get back here you cowards!"

The boy wonder slid the card through the reader right as the door was about to close, allowing it to stay open long enough for the four titans to enter. Seeing that Ulragor and his bodyguard would soon reach the end, Raven hurriedly teleported herself and Beast Boy to directly in front of them. Ulragor and his bodyguard skidded to a stop, hissing in surprise. They turned around to go back, only to find Robin and Cyborg coming to a stop that way.

"End of the line traitor," said Robin, miraculously able to be heard over the ringing of the two gongs.

Ulragor hissed, and drew out his trident. "We'll see about that worm!" His bodyguard drew out his own trident, and the two Gordanian warriors started firing their trident blasts at the four teenage heroes. As the titans did their best to avoid getting blasted, Beast Boy took note of several important details. For one, the two airborne Gordanians not taking part in the battle were still incessantly banging the gongs. He could also hear what sounded like discomforted hissing and shrieking coming from somewhere in the room, as well as slightly make out what looked like the silhouette of something gigantic within the lava. Finally, he could notice that there appeared to be a bag tied to the left railing of the catwalk that had what looked like fish tails sticking out at the top. He thought to himself, an idea starting to form in his head.

"Raven," he said. "Do you think you'd be able to shield yourself in a way that would cause one of those laser blasts to split in two different directions?"

"Maybe, why?"

"Just trust me on this; I need it to split so that it goes left and right, straight at those two gong men."

"If you say so." Raven hurriedly summoned a forcefield. Luckily enough, the desired effect was achieved. The resulting split beam plowed into the chests of both flying Gordanian servants, causing them to slam back first against the walls behind them as well as to drop their gongs into the lava. There was just enough time for the two warrior Gordanians to turn their attention to the servants and for the servants to regain their wits before Beast Boy turned into a smilodon and roared at the unnamed bodyguard, startling him into stumbling backwards so that his trident sliced through the rope tying the fish bag to the railing, sending it falling down towards the lava as well.

"No!" the two servant Gordanians hissed in fear and despair, extending their hands out uselessly in the bag's direction right as it landed into the lava with a splash.

Robin, Cyborg, and Raven were only confused for three seconds before the room seemed to start quaking while the lava started rapidly boiling.

No sooner had the titans, Ulragor, and the bodyguard regained their footing despite the room still quaking when a savage looking monster that appeared to be engulfed in rainbow flames began to rise out of the lava. The flames encasing the beast were too bright and intense for any of the room's other occupants to get a good look at it, but they could all tell at the very least that it had a long serpentine body that proceeded to gradually rise out of the lava multiple kilometers at a time with each flap of its two gigantic dragon-like wings. With each flap of its wings, it also let out a very unnerving pteranodon-like screech while simultaneously rising. After flapping and screeching 7 times in a row, it reared its body up even further out of the lava, tilted its head back, and let out a keening shriek, before clapping its wings together and causing the rainbow flames that had engulfed it to abruptly vanish.

With the flaming aura gone, the creature pulled its wings back to their initial position, and titan and Gordanian alike gulped at the full unblocked view they got of the creature. Its body was a brilliant yellow gold, it had a resplendent red head with midnight black horns, and it had forest green wings. They could also see its face now, and it reminded them heavily of Rodan, only with slightly more dragon-like features, a beak filled with wicked looking fangs, and a forked tongue. But what truly made the creature look scary were its eyes, two fiendish chartreuse orbs that seemed to dazzle with an almost human-like look of maniacal glee mixed with beastly hunger.

Ulragor and his bodyguard, clearly knowing full well how much trouble they'd be in if they stayed in the area much longer, rushed right between the still distracted Robin and Cyborg and towards the door that would lead back to the hallway they'd departed from. Unfortunately, the sudden movement attracted the beast's attention. It turned around to face the direction the two Gordanian warriors were fleeing, reared back, and then fired a cataract of rainbow flames from its mouth right at the door.

The jet of brilliantly colored flames struck the edge of the catwalk directly in front of the door the two Gordanian warriors had been rushing towards, leaving an impressively sized wall of flames blocking their path. As if sensing the dangerous fire, the keycard reader next to the blocked off door suddenly beeped, its signal light turned red, and the door locked tight shut with a click.

The titan boys had just enough time to gulp and realize how they themselves needed to get out of the room quick before they were suddenly engulfed by shadowy energy and expelled back into the light directly outside the door on the opposite end of the catwalk alongside Raven. As it turned out, Raven couldn't have timed this escape more perfectly. For literally the second Raven had departed from the lava pit entirely, a second blast of the beast's breath struck the edge of that very end of the catwalk, creating another rainbow blaze that both physically blocked the Gordanians' path and triggered the door to undergo the same emergency programming that the other door had been triggered into activating, effectively leaving Ulragor, his bodyguard, and the two servants locked in with the monster.

As the four titans watched through the door's small window, gasping in both fright and relief at the situation they'd just narrowly avoided, the monster started snapping its beak at the four screaming and panicking Gordanians trapped inside the room with it. Beast Boy nervously chuckled as Robin, Raven, and Cyborg proceeded to glare at him. "Uh, yeah," he said. "That, probably wasn't my smartest idea."

"Oh," said Cyborg. "You think?"

At the sound of an agonized scream, the titans looked back through the window in time to see the monster snap its jaws shut around one of the servants, who had just happened to be screaming and still flying around while engulfed in a rainbow blaze. As the titans watched, too shocked and frightened to react any other way, the monster turned its head to see the other servant banging its fists one of the walls and yelling for help, blasted the luckless servant with its breath, and then chomped him up when the now screaming and burning servant fell right into its mouth.

Ulragor and his bodyguard fired their tridents at the monster, but the blasts seemed only to annoy it, and it proceeded to blast the bodyguard with its breath, then gobble him up in one bite.

Hissing in rage and despair, Ulragor slipped his trident back into his belt and flew over to the door that the titans were behind. He slammed his fists against it, his face taking up the window space and startling the titans into stumbling away. Beast Boy fell on his backside, completely unaware of his hand landing upon a small button on the wall behind him.

"Let me out!" Ulragor yelled, the rainbow fire blazing and raging around him as he tried desperately to bang down the door blocking his way out. "Help me!"

He then screamed in agony as another blast of rainbow fire engulfed him. Then the beast snapped him up in its jaws, the top of its head slamming against the door, startling the titans further.

When the titans got their senses back, they looked each other in the eyes, finally realizing how they'd just unwittingly allowed four enemies to get killed and eaten without trying to save them. "Ok," said Cyborg. "We probably could have reacted a whole lot quicker that time."

"Too late now," said Raven.

Robin shook his head. "Come on team, we don't have time to worry about this matter." He pointed behind them, his head turned to face the spiral ramp leading up towards another doorway. "See that? According to what Cyborg said from his hacking, Starfire's right behind that door. Come on."

Putting the experience with the lava pit in the very backs of their minds, the four teenage heroes got up from where they were sitting and bolted over to the ramp, Beast Boy himself completely forgetting about the button he'd accidentally pressed.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I REALLY hope you enjoyed this new chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted). In particular, I especially hope you enjoyed all the scenes leading up to the final stretch that involved the Phosphorium arrow. If any of you happen to be wondering whether or not these scenes are inspired by/a ripoff of the similar scenes involving Yondu and his arrow against the Ravager mutineers in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I shall shamelessly admit that to be the case ^_^ (and feel free to play Come A Little Bit Closer while reading those scenes if you REALLY would like to feel the experience; particularly as that's the exact song that Beast Boy picked as far as I'd like to believe). Also, I hope you also enjoyed getting the reveal as to just WHAT was in fact dwelling inside the lava pit, and are pleased that Ulragor and his men have paid for their treachery and refusal to ally with the titans earlier in this story. All that said, again I hope you read, review, and enjoy! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: The titans have finally reached where Starfire is being kept. However, despite all their current progress, there is still one more obstacle standing in their path. And he is most definitely not going to let them rescue Starfire without a fight! How will this battle unfold? Find out next time!**


	15. A Man Scorned

**Hey everyone! I hope y'all are ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this chapter, all that's left standing in the titans' way to rescuing Starfire is Cometbolt/Ph'yzzon. And he has zero intent of making it easy for them to save her. How shall our favorite teen heroes fare against him? Let's find out! Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you all once more that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. Get it? Got it? Good. Onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 14:**

 **A Man Scorned**

The titans leaped into the room at the top of the ramp. The sight of the imprisoned Starfire was all Robin needed to see. "Starfire!"

Starfire looked in her friends' direction, her green eyes widening in horror. "Friends! Get back! It's a trap!"

A jet of blue star bolt energy came flying towards the titans. Their eyes widened, and Raven hurriedly summoned a forcefield around herself and the boys just in time. After about a minute, the jet of star bolt fire faded away.

"You just have to make this difficult, don't you?"

Raven lowered the forcefield, and she and the boys looked to their left in time to see a tall Tamaranean male with long silvery white hair step out of the shadows, his green eyes venomously glaring, and a pair of blue star bolts around his wrists. "Then again, I am also both impressed and feeling grudgingly respectful towards you for making it this far. You may yet prove more worthy opponents to me then I was initially willing to give you vermin credit for."

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"On Tamaran, I am called Ph'yzzon. But you may call me Cometbolt." He narrowed his eyes. "And you four are the earthlings who have replaced me in Starfire's mind as friends; and in your case," he pointed at Robin, "as a lover."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Well boohoo to you then."

Cometbolt snarled, and placed his hand against his neck as if working out a crick. "I will not mince words. You four are going to die."

Beast Boy scoffed. "Well he's certainly straightforward."

"Shut up," said Cyborg.

"Why?" Robin asked. "Who are you to decide who gets to live and who gets to die?"

"It's a time of war. Surely you know how, in those times, the laws of life and death are far more relaxed then in times of peace." He let a wolf-like grin come on his face. "I will admit though, there is also a personal reason I want you lot dead."

"What's that?" Raven sarcastically asked.

"Like I said." He gestured at Starfire. "This person here? When we were children on Tamaran, we were friends, and also in love. But after the war between Tamaran and Gordania was over, you stole her from me. To add insult to injury, you've also kept her with you on Earth long enough to brainwash her into completely forgetting how truly happy she felt with me on Tamaran as opposed to the false happiness and love she believes herself to feel on Earth with such filthy troqs as yourselves. Not even returning to Tamaran of her own free will for that farce of a wedding was enough to remind her of the truth!"

"Because I already have what I want," Starfire hissed. "If you'd just accept that I'm telling the truth, you'd see how happy I already am and that they have not brainwashed me!"

"Shut up!" Cometbolt fired two beams of blue energy from his eyes at Starfire's head. The alien princess hurriedly ducked her head in time to avoid receiving a direct hit.

Robin stepped forward. "Hey!"

Cometbolt turned his head, forcing Robin to jump back in time to avoid the beams as they struck the floor right where he'd earlier stepped.

The white-haired Tamaranean shut off his eye beams, snarling and slavering like a dog. He pointed at Robin. "Koriand'r might have managed to delude herself through your brainwashing into believing that she's in love with you and even remotely cares about those other three pieces of filth standing behind you; not to mention that what she had for me was a mere crush of the schoolyard. But I know the truth even though she refuses to admit it!"

He gestured towards a small pillar that appeared to have two strange machines placed on top of it. "Once I've killed you four and allowed Kori a chance to lower her mind's defenses through grief over you, I shall use these machines to fix her so that she will finally remember what real love and happiness are . . . with me!"

All five of the titans glared at Cometbolt, Beast Boy even snarling like a wolf. Robin, however, was once again the first to speak. "Fix her? _Fix_ her? What's that supposed to mean?!"

"He plans to erase my memory of you, and all my time outside of Tamaran, replace it with false memories of me staying on Tamaran with him, and leave me stuck with him forever as his mindless doll on Tamaran under Blackfire's rule!"

"A very ugly way to describe my plans," said Cometbolt. "But if I am to save you from throwing your life away with these insects any more then you already have, then yes, I have some very necessary evils to commit."

Beast Boy growled. "You son of a . . .!"

Cometbolt pointed his star bolt encased right hand at the changeling. "You stay right where you are!"

Raven lifted her hood, her hands and eyes now glowing black. "Why don't you make us?"

"Yeah," said Cyborg, his right arm converting into a sonic cannon. "You may accuse _us_ of brainwashing Star. But what you've got in mind for her? That's the real brainwashing pal!"

"We're not doing anything you tell us to do you filthy degenerate," said Robin. He leaned backwards into a karate style battle ready position. "And we certainly aren't going to be killed by you either. We've already fought tougher, stronger, and crazier enemies than you and lived to tell the tale. If they couldn't take us out, then you sure as Hell can't do so either. And that, scum, is a fact."

Starfire smiled, and Cometbolt snarled.

"Fine," Cometbolt hissed. "You want me to get it over with? Very well then. I'll do exactly that!" He pointed both of his hands at the four titans and shot a jet of blue star bolt fire at them.

"Titans, go!" They jumped out of the way in different directions just in time for the blast to harmlessly char the floor area they'd been standing at into being covered with ash.

. . . . .

"We can't give up now," said Galfore as he and his soldiers continued firing their ships' blasters at the Umbrosian forces.

Things were unfolding harrowingly for the Tamaraneans and Gordanians. About a quarter of the entire combined army had been shot down and blown up by the Umbrosian forces. And even despite the countless smaller Umbrosian ships that had gotten blasted, more kept coming. And of course, all of the giant Umbrosian ships were still barely even remotely damaged, and were also responsible for the majority of the casualties amongst the Tamaraneans and Gordanians.

"Hard to port!" Yarboth yelled as he and his squadron were forced to hurriedly swoop away to the left to avoid getting engulfed by a burst of laser fire from one of the giant ship's mouth cannons.

"By Zog," said Garzvohg as he too narrowly avoided a blast from one of the giant enemy ships. "These giant ships are living nightmares."

"This is insanity," said Taryia as she swooped her ship left and right to avoid getting obliterated by a series of smaller blasts. She then had to dive her ship straight down to avoid getting hit by a giant blast. "At this rate, none of us will survive."

"We have to keep trying," said Karras, himself starting to pant and get exhausted from nonstop firing and dodging. "We just have to hold out."

"General," said Taryia. "We may not have enough forces left to hold out."

"I know Lieutenant," said Karras. "But by X'hal we have to try. We need to give Koriand'r and her friends more time."

Galfore and Greerak were similarly both unnerved at the possibility of death and defeat and resigned to how retreat and escape were out of the question.

"Koriand'r," said Galfore. "By X'hal I hope you and your friends are alright out there."

"Warbird," said Greerak. "You, your consort, and your friends have already done so much for us by now. More than my kind has deserved. Please, by Zog, don't fail us now."

. . . . .

Cometbolt hurled star bolt after star bolt at Robin, growling in annoyance as the boy wonder continued to run and jump out of the way with every blast.

"Stay still you darned dirty grimpork!"

"Sorry," Robin snarked. "I don't take requests." He threw a trio of flame disks at Cometbolt. The Tamaranean boy stumbled backwards from the resulting explosions. He snarled, and prepared to fire another salvo of star bolts.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Cometbolt turned around in time to see Raven levitating behind him and sending a salvo of shadow orbs flying at him.

Mentally cursing, he used the very star bolts he'd initially been planning to throw Robin's way to blast the shadow orbs before they could reach him.

When both salvos were finally over, Cometbolt prepared to fire a star bolt jet at the sorceress . . . only to then be sent flying to the side by a burst of Cyborg's sonic cannon.

He slammed against a wall, groaned, and got back on his feet. He thrusted his right hand forward, sending a burst of star bolt fire rushing at Cyborg. Cyborg parried with another blast of his sonic cannon, resulting in the two blasts pushing against each other. As Cyborg and Cometbolt continued to have their blasts fight for dominance, the Tamaranean boy kept his focus so strongly placed on Cyborg that he failed to notice the green snow leopard rushing towards him from his right.

Beast Boy leaped at Cometbolt, roaring loudly. The Tamaranean had only seconds to widen his eyes at the sudden noise before the huge cat pounced on him and knocked him aside. He landed on his back, the green snow leopard leaning over him and snarling in his face.

But then Beast Boy hissed in surprise when Cometbolt placed his feet on the green snow leopard's belly and catapulted him off. And immediately after he'd thrown Beast Boy off, he jumped to his feet, grabbed Beast Boy by the tail, and yanked him back in time to start slamming him left and right on the floor. Robin had just started to run towards Cometbolt when the Tamaranean finally tired of slamming Beast Boy and threw him right at the boy wonder. The green snow leopard pounded into Robin, reverting back to human form just in time for both boys to go sprawling.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Cometbolt's eyes widened, and he hurriedly flew out of the way to avoid getting crushed by a falling ceiling panel. Then he had to repeat the dodging maneuver after Raven caused a mechanical pillar to rise from the floor beneath him and smash against the ceiling. And then he had to dodge a third time to avoid a burst of shadowy lightning tendrils she fired from her fingertips.

He reacted swiftly after this third dodge, firing his brilliant blue eye beams at her before she could prepare another attack. The beams flew at her so swiftly that Raven was forced to summon a forcefield.

For several minutes, Cometbolt continued to drill away against the forcefield with his eye beams, slowly increasing their intensity as Raven continued to keep herself shielded. Then he shrieked, reflexively shutting off his eye beams, when his hair was suddenly grabbed and pulled from behind. Beast Boy had turned into a pteranodon, flown behind the Tamaranean boy, grabbed onto his hair with his taloned feet, and started to pull him backwards.

With a final tug, Cometbolt fell onto his back, Beast Boy letting go of his hair to avoid getting dragged down with him. He hovered into position directly above Cometbolt, and then started kicking his taloned feet down towards the Tamaranean's face. Cometbolt hurriedly threw up his arm into a defensive position to avoid getting his face sliced apart by the pterosaur.

Beast Boy rose higher into the air with a flap of his wings, rearing his head back in the process. Cometbolt lowered his arm in time to see this, and then hurriedly thrusted his head to the side to avoid getting stabbed in the face by the pteranodon's beak. The pterosaur lifted itself up a 2nd time, only to shriek in surprise right before getting hit by a star bolt.

Beast Boy landed flat on his back, charred and warbling in pain from the star bolt. Cometbolt got on his feet, grabbed the pterosaur by the neck, and lifted it up, placing his left hand around its crest while keeping his right hand around its neck. "You really should keep your head on straight," he stated ominously.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

"Hllk," Cometbolt coughed when he suddenly felt a pair of metallic arms wrap around his own neck from behind, startling him into releasing Beast Boy, who promptly flew away to safety.

Cometbolt snarled, and clenched his hands tightly around the metallic arms choking him. "Cursed robot," he growled under his breath. He then jumped, initiating a backflip in the process. Cyborg shrieked as he himself was dragged up into the air when Cometbolt landed on his feet behind him. The Tamaranean boy slammed Cyborg on the floor on his back.

Cyborg had just enough time to regain his bearings before he then rolled away to avoid getting stomped in the face by Cometbolt's left foot. He then had to jump away and roll onto his feet to avoid getting pulverized by the Tamaranean's star bolt encased right fist. The Tamaranean turned to face Cyborg, only to be sent pounding into the window behind him by another blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon.

He had just managed to get back on his feet from sliding off the window when he heard a yell and running metallic feet behind him, and he turned around in time to see Cyborg running towards him with fists at the ready for punching. Thinking quickly, Cometbolt grabbed onto the floor beneath him and wrenched a segment of it free from its mooring, causing Cyborg to lose his footing. Cometbolt zoomed over to Cyborg, lifted him over his head, spun him around, and then threw him through the air. Cyborg slammed into the room's swivel chair, uprooting it from its position and causing both it and him to slam against a wall.

Cometbolt had just crouched as if about to fly off in Cyborg's direction again when he heard running feet, and he turned his head in time to see Robin rushing towards Starfire with a lockpick in his hand.

"Hold on Star, I'll get you out of there!" the boy wonder yelled.

"No!" Cometbolt shouted, hurling a star bolt Robin's way. The blast struck the ground right in front of Robin's feet, tripping him up and sending the lockpick sliding to a stop right next to the base of Starfire's foot cuff.

Robin got up to a crouch before hurriedly drawing out his bo staff in time to start deflecting the multiple other star bolts that Cometbolt began hurling at him. Several of the deflected star bolts struck the window, causing multiple small cracks to start forming on it.

"Hey butthead! Have a piece of this!"

Cometbolt turned his head, and his eyes widened at the sight of the uprooted chair flying right towards him. The chair slammed into him, sending the white-haired Tamaranean rocketing backwards. Five minutes after landing, Cometbolt threw the chair off of him in a rage.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Cometbolt turned his head, and mentally swore at the sight of a laser turret extending out of the ceiling while encased in shadowy energy. With a swing of her hand, Raven activated the machine, causing it to start firing indiscriminately at Cometbolt with its laser blasts.

The villainous Tamaranean spent about a minute dodging the blaster fire, and then his eyes widened as he saw that Raven had now turned the turret so that it would be aimed right where he'd left the Psion machines. "No!" he yelled as he swooped in and scooped the machines out of the way right as the turret's blasts zoomed harmlessly through the empty air where they'd originally been placed atop the small mechanical pillar.

He turned his head to face Raven, eyes blazing while he kept his arms tightly wrapped around the Psion machines. "Dirty move," he snarled before firing his eye beams towards the sorceress. Raven melted into the shadows and dodged the attack, but the turret was destroyed as a result.

Cometbolt narrowed his eyes, waiting for Raven to rematerialize from the shadows. "You can't hide from me forever witch."

"No one calls her that!"

He turned his head in time to see Beast Boy leap towards him, morphing into a crocodile and opening his jaws to the fullest in midair. He grabbed onto the croc's open jaws right as Beast Boy was seconds away from snapping them shut around the Tamaranean boy's abdomen. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you in half worm."

"Wish granted."

With a pounding flying ninja kick to the Tamaranean boy's face, the boy wonder jumped in and sent Cometbolt flying away, freeing Beast Boy in the process.

Cometbolt landed on his feet, skidding to a stop in the process. He managed to look back where he'd been in time to see Beast Boy revert to human form while Raven and Cyborg took position alongside Robin and Beast Boy. "You'll be too busy dealing with the rest of us alongside him. And as we'll gladly tell you again, we're not going to die today. Especially not against you."

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "You're tough. I'll give you that. But right now, we're still alive. Not to mention, there's four of us, five if you count Star. And there's only one of you. . ."

Cometbolt snapped his fingers, and with a flash of blue aura, his two binary clones materialized into existence. All three of the Cometbolts ignited their hands with star bolts. The four titans who'd been fighting him gulped, clearly caught off guard.

"Ok," said Cyborg. "Wasn't expecting that."

"You're telling me," said Beast Boy.

"We're in trouble," said Raven.

"Yes witch," said the original Cometbolt, a maniacal wolf-like grin on his face that his two clones shared. "You most certainly are."

A sudden pteranodon-like screech filled the air, prompting all seven of the combatants to cringe, and cover their ears in discomfort. Then their eyebrows rose at the sound of a heavy pounding noise, and they looked in the sound's direction in time to see that something appeared to be banging against what looked like the cover for an airshaft from within.

Robin narrowed his eyes. "That screech, it sounded like. . ."

"That thing from the lava pit," Cyborg confirmed. "But why the heck would it be in the airshaft?"

"Um yeah, about that," Beast Boy said, now guiltily remembering just where his hand had landed earlier after their earlier jump scare following their escape from the lava pit. "I uh . . . I may have accidentally given that thing an escape route."

Raven glared at Beast Boy, her eyes turning red. "Define. Accidentally."

Beast Boy opened his mouth to answer, only for all 8 of the room's occupants to have their attention return to the airshaft at the sound of first a shriek, and then an explosion. Sure enough, with a burst of rainbow fire, the cover to the airshaft entrance went flying off of its hinges and onto the floor. When the smoke and fire faded away, none other than the very creature that had been dwelling in the lava pit came slithering out, flapping its wings and shrieking in a mixture of rage, delight, and hunger.

. . . . .

"Hard to port! Hard to port! Hard to port!"

The Tamaranean fleet just barely succeeded in following Karras' panicked order in time to avoid getting blasted to dust from another giant blast from the Umbrosian fleet. Things were still not going well for the Tamaraneans and Gordanians. While there was a small mercy in that the smaller Umbrosian ships had withdrawn themselves behind the larger ships and stopped actively fighting, the giant Umbrosian ships were naturally proving almost impossible to defeat.

"By Zog, this is insane," Garzvohg hissed.

"Tell me about it," Yarboth grumbled.

Galfore and Greerak, however, made note of one small detail that their soldiers were largely too busy dodging the blasts to notice.

"The giant blast cannons," said Galfore. "Only one ship fires from that particular cannon at a time. Why is that?"

"Strange," Greerak hissed to himself. "Very strange."

"Yes, it is very strange," said one of the pilots of Greerak's ship. "To think that any of those ships have enough energy to even fire 2 shots from those giant cannons. Let alone the amount of times they've currently fired at all."

Greerak raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The pilot has a point," said one of the advisors. "To fire a blast of the kind of magnitude shown by the ones from those giant cannons would require an incredibly vast amount of energy. Zog knows how much energy those ships must have to be able to fire those cannons more than twice without losing power, or even at least needing time to recharge."

Greerak thought to himself. "You're right," he said. "Such feats truly would require remarkably high levels of energy." He looked at one of the giant ships. "And presumably, with all the energy going into the blasts those cannons fire, it would obviously be a bad idea to risk overloading."

"You suppose? Of course it would be a bad idea! With the sheer amount of energy being devoted to those blasts, even the tiniest amount of unnecessary extra energy could cause a dangerous reaction! The ships even have to fire their respective cannon's one at a time so that the tension relieving shockwaves released through the side vents don't cause them all to explode when they fire those cannons!"

"Exactly." Greerak grinned, and then turned on his commlink to transmit a message to his troops. "Everyone, this is your king speaking. I want all of us to convene together!"

The Gordanians, obedient to their king, began moving their ships as needed to follow his command. The Tamaraneans all appeared confused about this development. Then Galfore got a call on his transmitter from Greerak.

"Galfore," said Greerak over the transmission, "do you see what my forces are doing? Tell your forces to do the same and join with us. I have an idea."

Galfore initially wasn't sure what to think upon hearing this. Then he thought to himself, realizing that this plan was probably worth a shot in light of the circumstances. He switched his transmission to access the communicators of his soldiers.

"This is your Emperor speaking," he grunted. "Notice how the Gordanians are behaving with their ships? I want us all to do the same and join up with them."

"Why?" asked one of the soldiers.

"Just do it!"

"Yes your excellency!"

Within minutes, the entire combined fleet of Tamaranean and Gordanian ships had convened together to face the giant Umbrosian ships.

"Your majesty," hissed Yarboth. "What is going on?"

"Just trust me," Greerak responded. "I have a plan."

"This better work," Galfore grunted into Greerak's communicator.

"It will. I'm sure of it. All we need is for one of those giant ships to start charging its giant cannon."

"Wish granted, what now?"

Everyone in the fleet looked directly at the fleet in time to see that one ship in the very center had indeed opened its 'mouth' and appeared to be starting to charge up for a blast. Greerak instantly pointed his finger at the ship in question. "NOW! FIRE AT THAT CANNON!"

All the Gordanian ships, Greerak's royal barge included, opened fire at the charging cannon.

"You see what the Gordanians are doing?" said Galfore. "That's what I want; do it now!"

The Tamaraneans, obedient as ever to their emperor, opened fire as well.

As blast after blast came rocketing into the still charging cannon, all the other giant ships in the Umbrosian fleet started preparing the laser blasters in their 'eyes'.

Galfore and Greerak noticed this.

"Everyone," the two rulers shouted in unison. "Activate shields!"

"Those will be useless against that cannon!"

"It won't be useless against the 'eye beams'! Put the shields up now!"

The soldiers activated their ships' forcefields without further argument. Just in time for all the resplendent red laser beams fired from the Umbrosian ship 'eye blasters' to be harmlessly deflected, allowing the relentless onslaught of blaster fire against the still charging giant cannon to continue.

Eventually, Karras noticed a small new detail. "The cannon we're firing at . . . there's smoke coming out from where we're firing!"

"Good," said Greerak. "That's what we want. Keep firing!"

"But that thing could fire at any minute," hissed Garzvohg.

"Then don't stop now, keep firing!"

"Yes sir."

The combined fleet kept firing mercilessly at the still charging cannon. After about a minute, it became clear that both the combined fleet and the one giant Umbrosian ship about to fire were now in a desperate race to see which side reached its desired goal first.

"Keep firing," Greerak roared. "Keep firing!"

"You heard Greerak," Galfore snarled. "Keep firing!"

With a burst of smoke, a small beam of blue light suddenly burst from the bottom of the Umbrosian ship's 'chin'.

The sight of this beam was all Greerak needed. "Keep firing! We've almost got it!"

The blaster onslaught rapidly sped up, and after a few seconds, multiple other beams started bursting out of various areas across the head of the giant ship even as the cannon still continued to charge despite the energy starting to leak out of the area around it.

"We've almost got it," Greerak yelled, enthusiasm and joy clearly present in his voice. "Don't stop now! We can do it!"

The cannon's opening started crackling with blue electricity. However, instead of only appearing on this area the way it would if about to fire, the blue lightning proceeded to also engulf the entire rest of the ship.

"Any minute now!"

BOOM!

In a brilliant BLAST of blue light, the entire central giant Umbrosian ship exploded, finally having received far more energy then it could safely store and subsequently overloaded.

"YES!"

The Umbrosians manning the two ships the doomed ship had been positioned between had no time to even realize what had happened before their own ships were caught in the blast wave of the exploding central ship and thoroughly destroyed as well. As those two ships exploded, the ships next to them were similarly destroyed in the blast. By the time this vicious chain reaction was done, all 55 of the giant Umbrosian ships present had been destroyed.

For what seemed like an eternity, both fleets stared each other down. The combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet had a healthy mixture of joy and relief on their faces. The Umbrosians, and the Gordanian fighter pilots on Ulragor's side, were all stunned by what had just happened.

Greerak and Galfore both smiled in their respective royal starships as they gazed at the multiple smaller enemy ships that still remained. "Lower the shields," they shouted in unison. "And open fire!"

Their soldiers obliged, and began firing at the smaller enemy ships like there was no tomorrow. As this happened, the sound of a savage shriek was heard from the giant purple ship behind the enemy fleet.

Galfore looked to the ship, narrowed his eyes as if trying to better see what was happening on the other side of one of the windows, and then widened his eyes as he caught sight of something he had neither been expecting, nor was keen on allowing to stay in its current location. And if what he was now seeing just happened to be in the same area as Starfire and her friends, then he had especially good reason to want what he had now caught sight of removed from the area as soon as possible. He tapped into Karras' commlink.

"General Karras!"

"Yes?"

"That purple ship. I want you to head over to the room attached to that window underneath the figurehead's chin."

"Why?"

"I suspect that Princess Starfire is being held there. If I am correct in my current suspicions, then I believe that she and her friends will need some unexpected outside help. And I want you to provide that help."

"You believe Koriand'r's consort and other friends from Earth need my help?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm their man!"

Karras tapped into Taryia's commlink. "Lieutenant, I hereby grant you temporary full command. His excellency says that Koriand'r and her friends require my immediate assistance."

"Do what you must general. I will do my best."

"Good. I shall return." He deactivated his blasters and turned his ship around to directly face the direction he was about to travel. "My love," he added in a whisper. He flew off towards the giant purple starship.

. . . . .

Raven winced as she struggled to keep the forcefield she'd summoned up and running. She and her fellow titans had been keeping themselves safe within this forcefield for several minutes now, but the monster from the lava pit still wasn't letting up in its latest attempt at roasting them with its fiery rainbow breath.

Cometbolt and Starfire, meanwhile, were similarly doing their best to keep themselves from getting on the receiving end of the monster's attacks. Unlike the four earthlings, they knew full well what sort of creature this monster was. A native animal from the Polaris System, the rainbow razer was a formidable beast that only the bravest or most idiotic dared to confront without backup or an escape route available. Its rainbow-colored fiery breath was said to be as hot as the combined heat of seven suns. It was reportedly strong enough to smash a planet to dust by coiling around it, and had the size to match. Its scaly skin was reportedly tough enough that only the fangs and horns of its own species were capable of piercing it. And as if to add to how terrifying it was, it was also a vacuum breather that lived a nomadic lifestyle in the vacuum of Polaris system space.

Cometbolt stayed hidden underneath the wreckage of the chair that had earlier been thrown at him, cradling the Psion technology in his arms as he stared helplessly in rage as the monster both spewed its breath at his foes and also swung its long tail left and right dangerously close to his position. As much as he wished to join the beast in efforts to kill the four Earthlings, he wasn't about to risk getting sliced in half by the sharp arrowhead-shaped spike on the tip of its tail. And even if he successfully avoided such a fate, it was all too likely that it would turn its sights on him and blast him with its breath the instant he got close enough to adequately add his own energy blasts to its efforts at breaking down Raven's shield.

Starfire, meanwhile, growled and snarled as she jerked furiously against the three cuffs keeping her restrained while also being buffeted by the hurricane force winds whipped up by the monster's flapping wings. "If I just had my eye beams, I could at least do something instead of just standing idle," she thought to herself.

The monster shut off its breath attack, reared its head, and let out a screeching roar towards the ceiling with its eyes closed.

Beast Boy covered his ears, wincing and gritting his teeth as if the noise was physically hurting him. "Good grief, it sounds mad," he thought to himself.

The monster finished its screeching roar and let loose with its breath once more.

Robin snarled, clenching his fists. "Can it not run out of breath to breathe? I'd really like to get out of this shield within the next ten million years."

Cometbolt, gritting his teeth, likewise stayed where he was. He knew that attempting to leave his hiding place right now would basically be committing suicide, and as much as he himself desired to be the one to kill Starfire's four fellow titans, he was certainly content to let the rainbow razer do the job for him . . . provided it didn't end up killing him and Starfire immediately afterward.

Starfire, meanwhile, kept jerking and thrashing against her restraints. "I have to get out of this," she thought to herself. "I have to help my friends." And to her credit, she was actually making far more progress in getting free then she thought she was. For as she kept jerking against them, the bases of the two cuffs restraining her hands were starting to loosen from their positions in the ceiling. All that was needed now was for her to jerk strongly enough against the cuffs a few more times and she would be free.

Then the 6 humanoids within the room noticed a strange sight outside the window, and directed their gazes in that direction. At the sound of charging blasters, the rainbow razer shut off its rainbow breath and turned its head in time to see the Tamaranean starfighter outside the window shatter it with its blasters.

"Warning," stated a robotic voice from the intercom. "Window is open."

Right as the chair Cometbolt was hiding under was yanked off of him by the vacuum force winds, the rainbow razer roared, and spewed its rainbow fire breath at the ship outside the now shattered window. The small ship dodged just in time. The monster shut off its breath, roared again, and lunged out the shattered window with a single forceful flap of its wings.

The smaller ship slipped through the window right as the monster's tail fully exited the room. And no sooner had the monster exited and smaller ship entered when a blue energy barrier materialized within the empty space that had originally been occupied by the window. The ship's compartment opened up, and none other than Karras jumped out, his spear now in his hands and at the ready for use.

The titans' eyes widened. "Well this is unexpected," said Beast Boy.

Karras turned his head to examine the area, and promptly narrowed his eyes upon seeing the similarly shocked Cometbolt still lying on the floor where the uprooted chair had been. "General Ph'yzzon," Karras stated coldly. "I thought I'd never see you again."

This comment snapped Cometbolt out of his shock, and he snarled in rage before standing up and pointing his finger accusingly at Karras. "The feeling is mutual," he snarled. He clenched his fists. "I honestly would have preferred never to see you again; especially after how little you did to try to save Kori and get her back after she was taken by the Gordanians."

"You know perfectly well why I couldn't do anything about that," said Karras. "Or why anyone else on Tamaran couldn't do anything about that."

"Indeed." Cometbolt folded his arms across his chest. "Because you were all cowards who didn't care."

"Would you rather the war had been started all over again? That the sacrifice made be just cast aside like it never happened? That countless soldiers and innocents could have potentially died to go along with the ones who'd already died by the time the truce was reached?"

"If that's what it would have taken to have Kori back where she belonged and for the Gordanians to never be in our lives, or anyone else's, ever again, then yes. The war should have ended with Tamaran standing triumphant over the dead bodies of all the Gordanians after forcing that entire race to surrender on its bloodied and broken knees! It most certainly should not have ended with a ceasefire brought about by a truce, let alone a ceasefire that came to pass thanks to some cowardly beast amongst our people selling Kori to those monsters! We should have been unambiguously victorious, Kori should have been with us, and all the Gordanians should have been dead!"

"Genocide is not the Tamaranean way, and you know it!"

"Why not? It would have been easy enough. Even if it took something as simple as poisoning a wellspring, it would have been capable of being done. I would know."

Starfire raised her eyebrow upon hearing this last bit. "Lord Valdroth's daughter . . . did Ph'yzzon . . .?"

"But that's all in the past now," said Cometbolt, his finger once again pointing towards Karras. "Because as soon as the four troqs from Earth are dead, I will have Kori fixed and returned to where she belongs. And once Komand'r's forces have finished wiping the floor with the entirety of the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet, all of Gordania will be overtaken by the Umbrosians and cast into eternal darkness never to return. With all that done, Kori and I will live happily together under Komand'r's rule, exactly as we should have!"

"And who are you to decide what you and Koriand'r deserved? For that matter, why are you so concerned about Kori being with you?"

"I can answer that."

Karras and Cometbolt turned their heads in the direction of Robin, who stepped forward. "Remember how I asked you if there was anyone Starfire loved in 'that way' while still on Tamaran? Well now I've found out the straight answer to that question." He pointed at the white-haired Tamaranean. "He claims to have done exactly that." Then he pointed at the Psion technology. "And what he means when he says that he plans to 'fix' Starfire? He plans to use those machines over there to erase her memory and alter her mind so that she becomes his mindless doll to have revolve entirely around loving him without any personality of her own."

"I resent how you dare to bastardize the joyous future I have planned for myself and Kori!"

"It is the truth Ph'yzzon," Starfire growled. "How many times must I tell you this before you accept that?!"

"She has a point," said Karras. He pointed at the former general. "If you truly loved her, you would respect that she's made her choice and let her live with it; costing yourself your own happiness for the sake of hers!"

"I cannot do that! I won't! Not when she's throwing her life away under the delusions of joy brought about by years outside her home, forced desensitization, and outright brainwashing into believing the ideals of such troqs as the people of Earth!"

"I have not been brainwashed," Starfire yelled. "How many times must I tell you that?!"

"Shut up," Cometbolt roared. "This isn't you talking! This is only the brainwashing that's making you think that you're happy! But I know the real you is still in there somewhere! And by X'hal, I am going to get that real you back!"

"The real her is right there in front of you," Robin growled. "You just refuse to accept that she's not the powerless doormat you want her to be!"

"Again, I resent how you bastardize the joyous dream I wish to make a reality in such fashion." He rammed his fist into his palm. "I am tired now of all this talk. Sooner or later, Komand'r and the Umbrosians will inevitably overrun your entire combined army of Tamaraneans and those undeserving clorbags! But before that happens, I _will_ kill you and your fellow troqs! I _will_ get the true Koriand'r back and have our lives unfold together the correct way! And if I have to kill her chump ex fiancé as well in order for these two goals to be made real, then by X'hal I _will_ gladly do that to!"

He snapped his fingers, summoning his two clones. "Prepare to suffer under Ahz'rogha," the original Cometbolt yelled. "PREPARE TO DIE!"

All three Cometbolts fired jets of blue star bolt fire from their hands.

"MOVE!" Karras yelled. He and the titans lunged out of the way to avoid getting charred by Cometbolt's blasts. The two clones narrowed their eyes and split away from the original's position. One of the clones headed after Cyborg. The other flew off to deal with Beast Boy and Raven. The original Cometbolt, however, flew straight towards where Robin and Karras had gone, shrieking in rage.

Karras got into a combat stance with his spear, and Robin leaned backwards while drawing out three flame disks from his utility belt. When Cometbolt was in range, Karras swung his spear towards him. The white-haired boy reared back with a yelp as the spear just narrowly avoided slicing across his chest. While still distracted and paused from this close call, he was hit by the three flame disks, which sent him flying backward with the resulting explosions. Robin charged at the still off balance Cometbolt, a guttural yell bursting from his throat as he drew out his bo staff. With a smack to the neck, Robin sent Cometbolt flying backward.

Cyborg fired his sonic cannon in time to disperse a star bolt from the clone he was facing. "You're gonna have to try harder then that if you want to kill me punk!"

"If that's what I must do, then do that I shall!"

The clone drew back both hands, then thrusted them forward, sending a jet of blue star bolt fire rocketing Cyborg's way. Cyborg jumped aside to avoid getting roasted.

The other clone, meanwhile, continued to fire blast after blast at Raven and Beast Boy from his hands and eyes. So far, his two targets seemed content to remain within the safety of a summoned forcefield.

"I've got an idea," said Beast Boy. "But you're going to need to shut off the forcefield and let me get in front of you."

Raven gritted her teeth. "This had better work."

"It should. All we need to do now is wait for a lull in the blasts and . . . now!"

Beast Boy jumped over Raven right as she deactivated the forcefield, turning into an ankylosaurus immediately after landing. He swung his tail just in time to deflect a burst of the clone's eye beams, sending the laser blast bouncing helter-skelter across the room, much to the annoyance of the other combatants as they hurriedly worked to dodge and shield themselves. Starfire also found herself having to duck her head at one point to avoid getting hit in the face, not even noticing how the beam struck her left wrist cuff not too long afterward. Eventually, the beam struck the clone facing Beast Boy and Raven in the back, sending him sprawling on his belly.

Raven capitalized on this, encasing him in her shadowy energy and sending him off to the side, pinning him to the room's door in the process. The clone had only enough time to shake his head and very briefly regain his bearings before Beast Boy then pounded against him in the form of a charging triceratops. Allowing the clone no time to recover from this, Beast Boy shifted back to ankylosaurus form, wound up his tail, and pounded the clone in the chest and stomach again and again while Raven continued to keep the clone pinned to the door.

Cyborg, meanwhile, continued duking it out against the clone that had chosen to face him. Blast after blast was fired from both combatants, with Cyborg even adding missiles into the mix. Despite all this, they both still appeared evenly matched.

The clone narrowed his eyes, seemingly starting to get wise to the matter. "I see this battle is currently going nowhere." He defused the star bolts on his hands and glow in his eyes, clenching his fists in the process. "Perhaps maybe a more hands on approach will be required."

"I was just thinking the same thing." Cyborg retracted his sonic cannon and missile launching system, clenching his own fists immediately afterward. With a guttural yell, the two rushed towards each other and clashed together in a brutal fistfight.

Robin and Karras, meanwhile, continued their duel with the original Cometbolt. The boy wonder cringed as he felt the latest burst of Cometbolt's eye beams strike his cape. He directed his eyes towards Karras, who was still at ready with his war spear. "Times like this really make me wish that all Tamaraneans had star bolts."

Karras gritted his teeth. "The way things are is the way things are." He smacked aside three star bolts from Cometbolt, and then directed a glare at Robin. "Deal with it."

At the same time this was happening, Starfire continued to tug against her restraints. But now, as she was both surprised and delighted to discover, the restraint on her left wrist seemed to have loosened considerably from its connection to the ceiling. It seemed that perhaps her continuous struggling was starting to have an effect on the restraint's integrity. The fact that this same restraint's base had been struck by the errant laser blast not too long ago probably helped. "Almost free," she thought to herself as she continued tugging against that one particular restraint. "I'm almost free."

The clone facing Beast Boy and Raven, despite the continuous pounding from Beast Boy's tail, finally seemed to gain just enough of his energy to attack once more. He fired his eye beams at Raven. The sorceress summoned an energy barrier to shield herself, grimacing as the eye beams continued to drill against her defenses.

In his eagerness to bust through Raven's shield and blast her with his eye beams, the Cometbolt clone completely forgot about Beast Boy. Then a sheet of metal suddenly slammed over his eyes, and he shrieked as his still active eye beams were painfully reflected upon his eyes and spread through the rest of his head.

Beast Boy, in sasquatch mode, had ripped a chunk out of the room's floor and smashed it against the Cometbolt clone's face, and now held it there as the clone howled in agony from his own reflected laser blasts. As he continued to hold the metal sheet in place, the Cometbolt clone's screams got louder and more pained until he glowed blue and finally exploded into particles of light.

The battle between Cyborg and the 2nd clone similarly didn't last much longer. After an intense fistfight, Cyborg finally managed to catch the clone's left fist right as it attempted a star bolt enhanced left hook, pounded the clone in the stomach with his right fist, and then swung the clone over his head and slammed him on the floor behind him. The clone had just enough time to groan and blink his eyes to regain his bearings before Cyborg stood over him, activated both of his sonic cannons, and utterly blasted the clone in the stomach and chest. The clone screamed in pain and despair, his eyes and mouth glowing with blue light, and then exploded into blue light particles.

The original Cometbolt grimaced, his hand instinctively flying to his chest as he felt the death of his 2nd clone, simultaneously feeling a headache from the death of the 1st clone. He slowly felt his energy return as the remnants of his clones flew to him and were absorbed back into his body. A harsh yell and running feet came in front of him, and he lifted his head in time to see Karras running forward with his spear at the ready.

Cometbolt grabbed the spear right where the tip met the handle, lifted it up, and threw Karras to the side. The captain of the Tamaranean guard slammed against his starfighter, the ship being sent skidding towards the broken window from the force of its pilot's impact against it.

Cometbolt turned his head away from Karras in time to see Robin running forward with his bo staff at the ready. The Tamaranean repeated the same trick he'd used against Karras to send Robin hurtling away from him as well. The boy wonder slammed against the screen of the room's supercomputer, and crumpled to the floor.

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven saw this. "Hey!"

Cometbolt drew out a remote from his pants pocket and pressed a button. Three laser blasters deployed from the ceiling and fired at the three titans, knocking them backwards past the door. He pressed another button, triggering an energy barrier to materialize between the side of the room he was on and the side he'd just had the three underling titans blasted over to.

With Robin's fellow titans, plus Karras, now out of commission, Cometbolt slowly walked towards the boy wonder, his hands together to charge up a star bolt blast. "Did you think you could stop me?"

He fired his blast, a flamethrower-like burst of blue star bolt flame that spouted from both of his hands and plowed into Robin. The boy wonder shrieked in pain as Cometbolt blasted him.

"Did you really think that you and your filthy friends would win this battle?"

He blasted Robin a second time.

"Did you, honest to X'hal, think that there was even the most remote chance of you making it out of this conflict against me alive?"

He blasted Robin a third time, noticeably making sure to prolong this blast's duration before stopping it. The boy wonder coughed and wheezed in pain once the blast ended, clearly not in good shape.

"I will give you credit where credit is due. You and your friends have proven surprisingly better opponents against me then I thought you would be. Even before Karras and that rainbow razer showed up, you were putting up a decent fight against me. And I'll admit, your three friends will be considerably harder to kill then I expected."

The three friends in question growled, and doubled their efforts to break their way through the barrier separating them from Robin.

"And it is precisely because of how difficult I now believe it will be to kill them that I've decided to make a slight alteration to my plans." He came to a stop directly in front of the groaning and prone Robin. "I originally wished to save you for last. But now, after all that's happened, it would appear that it would be wiser for me to be pragmatic and kill you first." He lifted his foot and gave the boy wonder a pounding kick to the stomach.

The blocked off titans snarled and growled in rage upon seeing this. Starfire, however, gasped upon seeing this, and hurriedly doubled her efforts to wrench her left cuff free of its mooring.

"You fought honorably," said Cometbolt. "All four of you Earthlings did. Under different circumstances, perhaps we all could have been friends. But these are not those circumstances. What must be done, must be done." He grabbed Robin by the lapel and lifted him up, placing his right hand on the back of the boy wonder's head and his left arm across the back of the boy wonder's neck. "Farewell . . . Robin."

"No!"

With a final tug, Starfire ripped her left wrist cuff free of its mooring, smashing it against her foot cuff afterward to bust her hand free of it. Cometbolt turned his head just in time to see her yank off the inhibiting headband, and his eyes widened at the sight of her turning her head to face where he'd left the Psion technology, her eyes glowing dangerously green.

Dropping Robin to the floor, Cometbolt rushed in the direction of the technology. "NO!"

With a shriek of rage, Starfire shot her eye beams at the technology, blasting both machines to ash. Cometbolt reached the location and got on his knees just in time for the smoke and lasers to fade and reveal the lowly ash and dust that remained of the hypno-helmet and mind manipulator he'd intended to rewrite Starfire's mind with. He picked up some of the remains, cradling them in his hands. "NO! NO! NO! NO!"

He turned his head to face Starfire, a half saddened, and half enraged look on his face. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY FOR US TO START OVER AND BE HAPPY TOGETHER LIKE WE USED TO BE! NOW YOU'VE DESTROYED ALL CHANCES OF BEING FREED FROM YOUR BRAINWASHING BY THOSE . . ."

A blast to his chest from Starfire's eye beams sent the white-haired Tamaranean flying right into the wall to the left of the broken window. As Cometbolt groaned and shook his head to regain his bearings, Starfire grabbed onto her right wrist cuff.

"For the last time," Starfire hissed, her voice dripping with hate and irritation, "I have not. Been. Brainwashed!" She wrenched her right hand free from its cuff, grabbing onto her foot cuff with both hands afterward. "And if getting my memory erased and my entire personality and free will robbed from me so that I could spend the rest of my life as a weak and powerless doll for you to play with is what it took for us to live your twisted definition of happiness together." She ripped her foot cuff in half, lifting her head to face Cometbolt with her still glowing eyes. "Then I want no part of it!"

With a guttural howl of rage, she flew straight at Cometbolt. The white-haired Tamaranean had no time to react before she grabbed him by both lapels and threw him against the energy barrier blocking off Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven. He crumpled to the floor. Starfire flew over to him, grabbed him by the hair, and swung him up against the ceiling. He didn't even have time to land after Starfire let go of his hair before she punched him in the face with her star bolt encased right fist and sent him crashing into the door.

As the titans behind the energy barrier continued to watch, Cometbolt managed to pry himself off of the door and stumble forward a little bit. Then he saw a moving shadow in front of him, and he lifted his head in time to see Starfire now hovering in front of him and rising high above his height, eyes and hands glowing dangerously bright. There was just enough time for Cometbolt's eyes to widen before Starfire dived right at him, sending both herself and Cometbolt pounding right through the floor and into the area directly on the other side of the door.

Karras, who had at this point gotten back up and helped Robin back to his feet, also saw this happen, and nodded his head in approval. "As much as he underestimated her friends from Earth, it would have been equally wiser for him to have not similarly underestimated Koriand'r's own strength."

Robin nodded his head in agreement, panting and gasping from his earlier injuries. "You can say that again." He looked at where Cometbolt had left the remote-like device. "Can I . . .?"

"I'll take care of it," said Karras. "You need to rest." He placed Robin against the chair by the smashed computer, snatched up the remote, and deactivated the energy barrier. The three titans rushed over to their leader.

"Yo," said Cyborg. "You alright Rob?"

Robin didn't even have a chance to answer before all their attention was drawn to the sight of large green and blue laser beams suddenly slicing through the walls and part of the floor from outside the room. It was clear that Starfire and Cometbolt's battle was getting serious.

The two battling Tamaraneans crashed right through the door, busting it right off its hinges as they rocketed back into the room. They slammed against the wall opposite the door, eyes glowing and fists on fire. Cometbolt snarled, kicked Starfire off of him, and flew towards her with his star bolts at the ready. But Starfire recovered faster then he'd expected, and sent him flying backwards once more with a jet of her own star bolt energy.

The white-haired Tamaranean was able to stop himself from slamming against the wall this time. With a howl of fury, he started hurling a volley of star bolts at Starfire. Starfire easily dodged her angry opponent's blasts. When a lull came about, she zoomed forward and kicked him in the face with a backflip. As Cometbolt was spinning around off balance from the blow, Starfire zoomed forward, grabbed him by the lapel, and threw him against the wall next to the broken window.

Cometbolt shook his head furiously, growled, and fired his eye beams at Starfire with a yell. Starfire fired her own eye beams, the two blasts intercepting together in the middle of the room. For what felt like an eternity, the two Tamaraneans kept their eye beams active, both of them fighting for dominance. Starfire, with a snarl of effort, managed to get her beams to slowly start pushing against Cometbolt's blast, pushing it further and further backwards towards Cometbolt. The white-haired Tamaranean snarled, fighting desperately to push back against Starfire's attack. But this time, with the combined power of Starfire's love for her friends and her fury against Cometbolt strengthening her power, Cometbolt had well and truly met his match. Mere minutes later, Starfire's eye beams pushed their way the last few inches needed and plowed into Cometbolt.

Cometbolt shrieked as he was engulfed by the energy of Starfire's eye beams. Starfire eventually shut off her beams, leaving the charred and barely conscious Cometbolt covered in ash and groaning before he crumpled to the floor.

Starfire hissed venomously, flew over to Cometbolt, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him back up against the wall. She snarled, drew her fist back, and then punched him in the face.

"You thought I was brainwashed and in denial over my true feelings. You are wrong."

Pow!

"You thought that my friends, especially my boyfriend Robin, were inferior troqs unworthy of my friendship and love who'd stolen me from you. You are wrong."

Pow!

"You thought that I myself was weak and powerless and would always need to be saved by stronger beings such as yourself. You are wrong."

Pow!

"You thought that what was truly best for me was for you to erase my memories, rob me of my free will, and turn me into a weak willed, small minded, and powerless doll whose only purpose would be to love you, and only you, more than even life itself and be entirely devoted solely to you with no voice, personality, or dreams of my own. You! Are! WRONG!"

She activated a star bolt around her right fist, and punched Cometbolt yet again.

POW!

Cometbolt howled in agony, and Karras and the titans winced.

"I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt Ph'yzzon," Starfire snarled, eyes and fists still glowing. "I was willing to allow you the chance to redeem yourself and for us to continue at least being friends!"

POW!

"But instead, you threw all my effort at giving you good will back in my face, denied your own faults, and refused to accept the truth that I kept telling you again and again!"

POW!

"I HATE YOU!"

POW!

"I HATE YOU!"

POW!

"I!"

POW!

"HATE!"

POW!

"YOU!"

POW!

This time, when Starfire struck, she struck Cometbolt in the stomach, her star bolt increased to the size of a large pumpkin, and plowed it against Cometbolt with such force that not only did the star bolt seem to glow bright enough to explode, but the blow also caused Cometbolt's eyes to widen and drops of blood to burst out of his mouth.

"GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the white-haired Tamaranean roared in agony as he felt the impossibly powerful blow strike him.

Eventually, Starfire ended the blow, and retracted her hand from Cometbolt. For a few seconds, she kept the villainous Tamaranean boy pinned against the wall by his neck; the boy panting and gasping from the pain. Then, with a final wheezing groan, he closed his eyes and lost consciousness. Starfire let go of his neck and stepped aside, leaving the unconscious Cometbolt to fall first to his knees, and then flat on his face.

Starfire turned her head to face Karras and her friends. "I trust you are all the ok?"

Robin raised his eyebrow, and looked at the unconscious Cometbolt. "I think I should potentially be asking the same about you."

Karras raised his own eyebrow. "No concern for Ph'yzzon?"

"Is he still alive?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire took a look at Cometbolt, saw that he was still breathing, and looked back at her friends. "Yes."

"Then nope," said Robin. "No concern needed. Not for him."

Karras thought to himself, and then nodded. "With what he was willing to do, I will gladly agree with you." He looked towards the window, and his eyes widened. "And I must say, it would appear that my tricking that rainbow razer into leaving the ship has proven unexpectedly helpful."

The titans all looked in the direction the Tamaranean captain of the guard was looking, and their own eyes widened at the sight that met their eyes outside the window. The entirety of what remained of the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet was gathered around a distance away and watching warily as the rainbow razer flapped its wings idly amidst the smoke and ashes that remained of the ships piloted by the Umbrosian soldiers and the remainder of Ulragor's men, shrieking and roaring as if telling the ships gathered in front of it to stay away.

Robin put his finger to his chin as if thinking to himself. "Hmm, if things go well, all we'll need to do is just find a way to get that thing to leave, and then we can go take on Blackfire and bring this whole business to an end."

"Um Robin," said Beast Boy. "Not that I want to take over for Raven here, but shouldn't we still be worried about . . ."

At the sight of the outside light suddenly darkening, Karras and the titans all looked back out the window in time to see a giant vortex of shadows open up directly above the area where the rainbow razer and ships were gathered. The monster warbled warily, and lifted its head to face upward.

From their vantage point on Blackfire's ship, the eyes of Karras and the titans widened even further when a very ominous looking figure started to slowly emerge from the vortex and descend down towards the area. Beast Boy winced. He had a bad feeling about just what this newly arriving figure was. "That?" he belatedly asked.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I REALLY hope you all enjoyed this chapter! And all that in mind, I especially hope you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted). All in all, hope you all had fun!**

 **Coming up next: The time has finally come. The long teased battle between the Black and Prime Entities shall finally begin!**


	16. Some Much Needed Reinforcements

**Well everyone, here's my next chapter! In this chapter, the long awaited battle between the Black and Prime Entities (and also the two Tamaranean sisters that now serve as their vessels) finally begins! How will things unfold from here? Read and find out everyone!**

 **A/N: But remember, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC based. The only things I DO own are the Phosphorians, Umbrosians, and their respective Gods (or should I say Entities?). All that said, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 15:**

 **Some Much Needed Reinforcements**

Blackfire couldn't help but both wince and nod in approval as she discreetly watched the battle between Cometbolt and the titans unfold on the security camera footage. Part of her was feeling darkly happy to see her countryman get thoroughly proven wrong about his underestimation of her sister's titan friends. Of course, she was also keeping watch over how well her forces were faring against the combined fleet of Tamaranean and Gordanian ships. She had to admit, early on, the battle seemed fairly evenly matched.

The first worms of doubt, however, began to arise in her mind once she caught sight of the rainbow razer busting out of the air shaft and entering the same room as her sister, Cometbolt, and the other titans. Her concern had only continued to rise after the destruction of the giant ships, and then even more after Karras had broken the window and allowed the rainbow razer to be set loose.

But once Starfire had managed to break loose from her restraints, she had unwittingly kept all of her focus on the security camera footage. While aware of the inherent difficulty to have arisen upon catching sight of Starfire's destruction of Cometbolt's Psion technology, she surprisingly also felt relieved that her sister would ultimately _not_ have her mind and personality rewritten and destroyed for the white-haired Tamaranean's own depraved ends. So focused was she on watching that battle, in fact, that she was caught off guard when she suddenly heard Nolfavrel's voice telepathically scream at her in her head.

"Gah! Huh? What's going on?"

"Komand'r," said Nolfavrel. "We have a problem."

Blackfire looked back out the window in front of her, and her purple eyes widened at the sight before her. At that very moment, all the remaining ships from the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet had stopped fighting and retreated a respectable distance away together to watch as the rainbow razer, as she'd initially feared would happen, proceeded to use its dazzling multicolored breath attack to blast what remained of her immediately active fleet into space ash. Several of the Umbrosian ships, plus half of what remained of Ulragor's men, were currently flying every which way they could in a futile attempt to avoid getting obliterated.

"All this," Nolfavrel said, " _after_ our enemies had already started making uncomfortable progress in defeating us through being lucky enough to miraculously destroy all of the deployed giant ships in this area. Not to mention after how your sister's titan friends had managed to slaughter all my men onboard your ship, knock out the majority of the Gordanian traitors, and have Ulragor and three other Gordanians fed to that same blasted Polaris monster that is laying waste to the rest of our currently deployed soldiers as we speak! And go ahead and be honest with me. Is your upstart countryman doing any better against your sister's friends?"

Blackfire sighed. "No he is not." She looked back at the security camera footage. "In fact, my sister has managed to free herself and join in."

"It is getting worse than I thought."

Blackfire winced. "Tell me about it." She looked back out the window of the pilot's chamber, and her eyes widened at the sight of how much progress the rainbow razer had made since the last time she'd looked. "Or never mind; don't. I can see things just got worse."

"Well I'm glad you're at least _that_ smart." He sighed. "In the time of Kevand'r and Gomerand'r, the enemy wasn't able to take out even an 8th of our forces without help from the Phosphorians."

"We've still got more soldiers waiting alongside you; right?"

"Yes, but there is a problem. They are now proving very reluctant to actually come out to do battle."

"WHAT?! You can't be serious! You're their leaders! Surely they couldn't possibly refuse a direct order from you?!"

"That's the point. Why should we give that order? At the current rate things are going, having ourselves and the remainder of our army join up with you on the battlefield would be committing suicide. Unless you grant the remainder of our soldiers a good reason for hope, then my fellow councilmembers and I simply won't give them the order."

Blackfire clenched her fists, gritting her teeth in irritation. As much as she didn't like how her own ally was making thing difficult for her, she certainly couldn't argue with the valid point he'd raised either. After all, from what she'd seen unfold that very moment, what reason did she have to expect the rest of the Umbrosian fleet to fare any better against the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet then their compatriots had?

"There is, however, one being you could call upon to join you in this battle that would be guaranteed to allow the rest of us to feel like we still have an adequate fighting chance. The means to do so is presumably still on your person."

Blackfire's eyes widened, and she reflexively reached into her pants pocket. Sure enough, the pitch black crystalline summoning orb the Black Entity had given her was still right where she'd left it. "He's right," she thought to herself. "This could turn the whole battle around. I have the power right here. And with how reluctant my sister is to kill me after all I've done, there's a perfectly good chance that she won't call upon the. . ."

She thought to herself. Was there still any chance left that Starfire would be willing to continue being merciful to her the way she had in the past? After all, her sister was now aware of her responsibility for selling her to the Gordanians all those years ago, and she'd most certainly not reacted well to learning that news. Perhaps that knowledge would be enough for her sister to call upon the power of the Prime Entity so that she would be able to go to toe with her and the Black Entity at the very least, if not outright obliterate her.

Blackfire also felt wary about the prospect of being possessed. She'd heard plenty of stories about what happened to those who were possessed. And despite how Nolfavrel, the rest of the Umbrosian council, and even the Black Entity itself had promised that the possession would be a mutual two way street in which they worked together in harmony, Blackfire still remembered how she had twice received promises from supposed allies only to later end up stabbed in the back both times.

Furthermore, even though Starfire had prevented Cometbolt from subjecting her to the dastardly alternate fate he'd proposed, she now found herself still feeling strangely reluctant to fully commit to the idea of killing her own sister. No matter how much rage she mustered in her mind against her sister, she still, for some odd reason, just could not muster up the full willpower needed to straight up murder her sister. But at the same time, with how far she'd now gone, and the way things were currently unfolding for her, did she really have any other options left?

"Are you sure this is the only way?"

"You want us to keep fighting for you?" Nolfavrel asked coldly, a small hint of irritation clear in his voice. "Call upon the Almighty, or we will abandon you right now."

Blackfire sighed, and hung her head, steeling herself in the process. "If I must."

She drew out the summoning orb and lifted it up to the light of the ceiling lamp. "Shadowy one," she yelled. "King of the Night! Lord of Darkness! Embodiment of Death! I call upon you to help me in my time of need!"

The air was split with what sounded like booming thunder, and the summoning orb glowed with black energy and levitated out of Blackfire's hand.

"I hear your call," a hollow voice spoke, reverberating ominously in her mind. "And I come now to answer it. Join with me, embrace my power, and the universe shall be ours!"

The summoning orb crumbled to dust, and Blackfire turned around to face the window just as the environment outside her ship started to become increasingly dark. She directed her head in the direction that the rainbow razer gazed, and gulped upon sight of a giant shadowy vortex materializing directly above the battlefield.

. . . . .

Lieutenant Taryia of Tamaran raised her eyebrow as she gazed upwards at the giant vortex materializing above the battlefield. "What is that?" she thought to herself.

Galfore and Greerak, however, had a much better idea compared to their soldiers of just what was about to come out of this vortex. Sure enough, their eyes widened in horror upon seeing the first physical segments of the new arrival to descend out of the vortex.

"By Zog," hissed Greerak.

"X'hal help us all," said Galfore.

Currently sticking out of the giant vortex was a massive snake-like head that appeared to be made entirely out of shadows and smoke. In its mouth were rows and rows of giant and sharp needle-like teeth. And it had two giant blood red pupilless circular eyes. As the two rulers and their respective fleets watched in stunned horror, the rest of the being descended from the vortex, revealing its impossibly long snake-like body, its bat-like wings, and its barbed scorpion-like tail.

Upon fully exiting the vortex, the giant monster slowly rotated itself so that it was no longer upside down, spread its wings, reared upward, and let out an incoherent reverberating shriek that left even the bravest members of the fleet quivering with terror.

"The Black Entity," Greerak whimpered. "It has come."

"Yes," said Galfore. "And that can only mean one thing."

Sure enough, one of the windows that served as an 'eye' of Blackfire's ship opened up, and Blackfire herself flew out before coming to a stop a couple feet away from where the massive Entity was hovering.

The rainbow razer's eyes narrowed upon catching sight of Blackfire, and it let out a series of angry shrieks in her direction.

The Black Entity turned its head to face Blackfire, who nodded, and extended her hand towards it. "I am Komand'r of Tamaran, and I give you my body for you to use as your vessel."

The Black Entity hissed, seeming to lick its lips with pleasure. "I accept."

The Entity glowed with black light, dissolving into particles of shadowy energy. The giant shadowy cloud reared up like a snake, and went rocketing straight into Blackfire's chest.

The dark-haired Tamaranean shrieked, rearing back in shock as she absorbed the shadowy energy that was now pouring rapidly into her through her chest, feeling the essence of the Black Entity enter her body, and its mind flawlessly melding with her own.

The shadowy energy finished entering its new vessel, and Blackfire slowly floated down into a more upright position in the empty space. Blackfire opened her eyes. Except now they were no longer purple. Now they glowed with the pupilless red light of the Black Entity.

She narrowed her eyes, and spread her arms sideways as if showing herself off. "BEHOLD!" she yelled, her own voice nightmarishly melding with the reverberating hollow voice of the Entity that was now possessing her. "I! YOUR FUTURE RULER! AM HERE!"

She lifted her left hand, fist clenched. "I SHALL SAY THIS TO YOU NOW! BOW BEFORE ME! OR DIE!"

The rainbow razer snarled, and then spewed a tsunami of rainbow flames from its beak straight at Blackfire.

Rolling her eyes, Blackfire snapped her fingers, and a portal of darkness emerged in the path of the flames. The beast eventually shut off its breath attack, confused as to what was happening.

Blackfire gestured at the portal. "ENTER!" she yelled. "YOUR HOME IS WAITING!"

The creature rumbled in confusion, but then leaned its head towards the vortex in curiosity. Right as its head was inches away from the opening, a black tendril extended from the center, grabbed it by the horns, and dragged it through the portal. The beast had just enough time to shriek in surprise before it vanished through the vortex, which closed immediately afterward.

"I REPEAT," the possessed Blackfire yelled. "BOW BEFORE ME! OR DIE!"

Galfore glared, and pressed a button that would allow him to broadcast his voice to outside his soldiers' commlinks.

"WE WILL NEVER BOW TO YOU!" the Tamaranean emperor's booming voice shouted.

"YES," Greerak's voice roared from his own ship. "WE WILL NEVER BOW TO YOU! AS KING, THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD THAT I BOW TO, AND IT AIN'T YOU!"

"THEN YOU! SHALL! DIE!"

Blackfire lifted her hand and thrust it forward. A giant jet of shadowy fire erupted from it, engulfing a quarter of the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet. By the time the shadowy fire faded away and the rest of the fleet regained the ability to coherently think, all that was left of the ships that had been engulfed were wisps of smoke and ash.

"BEHOLD MY POWER!" Blackfire shouted. "AND TREMBLE!"

She snapped her fingers, and a giant maelstrom of shadowy lightning began to materialize in front of her and gradually expand closer and closer towards the star ship fleet. All the ships hurriedly moved to get away, but not all the ships were lucky.

"YES! RUN!" Blackfire yelled, the Entity inside her feeling especially proud as it spoke alongside her. "RUN LIKE THOSE IN FEAR OF A GOD SHOULD!" She raised her hands. "AND WHILE YOU ATTEMPT USELESSLY TO FLEE FROM ME AND REFUSE TO BOW, LET ME BRING FORTH MY LOYAL SUBJECTS WHO _WILL_ BOW TO ME!"

As if on unspoken cue, a gigantic armada of Umbrosian ships and soldiers began to come pouring down from the same vortex that the Black Entity had used to enter the battlefield.

Galfore's eyes widened upon seeing this, and then he fought hard not to allow any further outward signs of worry to show. "Koriand'r," he thought to himself. "By X'hal, I hope that you and your friends are alright. If you are, I can only hope that you will somehow allow us to survive this current dilemma."

. . . . .

Beast Boy gulped. "We're in trouble."

"Wow," said Cyborg. "What gave it away?"

"Our forces are indeed in dire circumstances," said Karras. He narrowed his eyes in concern. "I can only hope that Taryia is still alive." He turned his head to face where his ship was. Despite the impact with which Cometbolt had slammed him into it, plus its secondary impact against the room's wall, the ship had only received minor damages that would be easy to fix. "I must get back out there."

"You really think you'll be able to do any better against that thing?" Robin asked.

"Better to at least try to do something then just stand here and watch!"

"Well even if we don't just stand around, how are we supposed to take on something like this?!"

"Yet again, Beast Boy brings up a surprisingly good point," said Raven.

"There is one way we could level the field of play."

Karras and the other titans looked in Starfire's direction. The Tamaranean princess walked up to the unconscious Cometbolt, grabbed him by the hair and dragged him over to where a large dome was located. The onlookers narrowed their eyes, and then those of Starfire's fellow titans widened in recognition of the crystalline orb within.

"The summoning orb from the Prime Entity," said Raven.

Robin raised his eyebrow. "Star? You're not seriously considering . . .?"

Starfire wordlessly lifted the unconscious Cometbolt's hand and placed it against the button at the base of the dome. The palm was scanned, and the machine attached to the button let off an electronic beep. The dome opened, and Starfire grabbed the summoning orb.

"I'm serious Star," said Robin. "Look, I'm not trying to be intentionally difficult here. But you are aware of what you could be risking right? If you're still uncomfortable with all this, there could yet be another way . . ."

"My people are dying Robin."

Starfire turned her head to face her boyfriend, her eyes set in a half determined and half saddened look. "You talk now about we should be cautious and try to find another way. But open your eyes Robin and look out that window." She gestured to the window and the chaos currently going on outside Blackfire's ship. "Do you not see how fruitless and cruel it would be to make me wait for you to try to figure out some other solution in a moment like this? When both my people and our allies our slaughtered left and right by my sister, who even now has a literal God fighting alongside her?"

She hung her head. "I thought for a time that maybe we would have been able to find another way. Maybe if we'd been able to find Blackfire and stop her from summoning the Black Entity at any point before now, then perhaps what I'm about to do would in fact have not been necessary. But we didn't, and now it's too late for any other solution to be found."

She looked back out the window. "I know that what I'm about to do runs the risk of allowing events to unfold that none of us feel comfortable with and could very well go against several things we've stood for all our lives. For that, I am sorry. But with everything that's happened and is currently unfolding, there is now simply no other way. My people, my k'norfka, our allies, and very likely the entire universe at this point? They need me. I'm sorry Robin, but I am not going to stand by and let them die just so you can have a chance to search for another solution that may not even exist."

She lifted her hand, the marble-sized orb in her hand dazzling in the light of the room's ceiling lamp. "Bright one," she stated. "King of the Day. Lord of Light. Embodiment of Life. I . . . I call upon you to help me . . . in my time of need."

A humming noise that sounded none too different from the glowing of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer's nose filled the air, and the summoning orb glowed with white energy and levitated out of Starfire's hand.

"I knew you would call," the voice of the Prime Entity warbled in Starfire's mind, "and so I come to aid you. For what it's worth, I truly am sorry that this is the way things must be. When our battle is over, and the universe is safe forever more, I shall allow you to set up a memorial to the sister you knew before she became the monster she is now. Join with me, accept my power, and we shall make right all that is wrong."

The summoning orb crumbled to dust, and all 6 of the room's occupants turned to face the broken window when the area outside suddenly began to shine with an impossibly bright light. At the sight of what was now happening, Starfire nodded her head. "Friends, Karras," she then stated, gesturing to both Karras's ship and the open doorway. "Return to your ships and depart back to the battlefield. I want you to be safe with the rest of our forces while the Prime Entity and I duel with my sister and the Black Entity."

. . . . .

Blackfire and the Entity possessing her had just enough time to briefly smile gleefully at the sight of the chaos unfolding before them before a sudden bright glow emanated from underneath the battlefield, and they looked down. Their red eyes widened upon sight of what they found, as did the eyes of all the Umbrosians and their foes.

A giant vortex of white light had materialized from underneath the two armies, bathing the battlefield in its radiant glow. But then two diamond-shaped glowing blue eyes appeared within the vortex, and the Umbrosians all froze in fear.

"This cannot be," the soldiers all thought to themselves.

The 13 Umbrosian council members were similarly uneasy about this development.

"It would appear that this battle will yet continue to be even harder then we thought," said Nolfavrel.

Blackfire and the Black Entity, however, merely narrowed their eyes. But despite this outward display, only the Entity truly felt suspicious and annoyed. Blackfire herself, on the other hand, was now feeling quite terrified.

"No," she thought to herself from deep within. "No, this can't be. X'hal please, this can't be! Starfire would never do this! She'd never actively wish to kill me! Never!"

Much as the Umbrosians had begun to fear, none other than the Prime Entity itself began to rise from out of the vortex of light. While the Umbrosians all froze and cowered in fear, the Tamaraneans and Gordanians gaped in awe at the magnificent figure.

"By X'hal," said Galfore.

"I'll admit, a truly wonderful sight to behold," said Greerak.

The commanding generals, similarly, were in awe.

"So beautiful," said Taryia.

"Zog almighty," said Yarboth.

The Entity's full body rose from the vortex, at which point it pulled back its wings, reared up its head, and unleashed a booming roar that caused the Umbrosians to cower and the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian fleet to cheer proudly in triumph.

"I knew you would do the right thing," Greerak whispered under his breath.

"Well done Koriand'r," Galfore whispered somberly. "I know that this is not what you would have preferred. In fact, I myself would have been reluctant to allow for this. But for all our sakes, I am glad you have ultimately made the choice you've now made."

With a flash of dark energy, the distinctive orange T-ship emerged behind the combined army of Tamaraneans and Gordanians. The four passengers onboard stared ahead at the spectacle about to unfold. Karras similarly emerged from this flash of shadows in his own ship, intently watching the newly arrived Entity while also setting off to take his place at Taryia's side.

"I hope you know what you're doing Koriand'r," Karras thought to himself.

. . . . .

Starfire snapped the same broken cuff that had originally been on her right wrist around Cometbolt's right wrist, using her strength and eye beams to weld it into tightening sufficiently enough to serve as an adequate restraint. "That should hold you," she thought to herself while simultaneously slipping the discarded inhibitor headband onto Cometbolt's own head. Her former captor and equally former friend and lover now secured karmically the same way he'd kept her restrained, Starfire turned around, crouched as if about to take off, and then flew right through the energy barrier that had formed in the space occupied by the broken window.

She came to a stop a couple feet away from the Prime Entity's position. The Entity turned its head to face her, blue eyes narrowed inquisitively.

Starfire sighed. "I am Koriand'r of Tamaran, and I give you my body for you to use as your vessel."

The Prime Entity warbled, and nodded its head in understanding. "I accept."

The Entity glowed, and then burst into a cloud of white light particles. This cloud scrunched up like a coiled spring, and then abruptly burst towards Starfire, morphing into a lightning bolt-like beam that struck her in the chest. The ginger haired Tamaranean hissed in discomfort, rearing back as she absorbed the energy that was now pouring into her. Within seconds, she felt the essence of the Prime Entity merge flawlessly with her own, their power unite, and their minds meld.

The last of the white light entered Starfire's body, and she floated downward into a straightened position with her eyes closed. Seconds later, with both armies, plus Blackfire and her own possessing entity, watching closely, she opened her eyes, revealing that they'd now turned the same brilliant blue as those of the Prime Entity.

Upon sight of this, the soldiers of the defending fleet cheered exuberantly, the titans and rulers nodded their heads resignedly, and the Umbrosians hissed in despair.

Blackfire and her Entity snarled. "NO!" they roared, the Entity's rage and Blackfire's despair melding together in this mighty shout.

Starfire raised her eyebrow, and turned around to face Blackfire. "GREETINGS," she said, her voice and the Prime Entity's flawlessly combined together much like Blackfire's had done with that of the Black Entity. "AT LONG LAST, WE MEET EACH OTHER ON THE BATTLEFIELD ONCE MORE!"

The Black Entity snarled, it's vessel's face hardening into a savage glare. "I SHOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT YOU'D SHOW YOUR FACE AT SOME POINT! NEVER MIND HOW BOTH YOUR VESSELS NOW HAVE ACCEPTED YOU WITH RELUCTANCE AS OPPOSED TO JOYOUSLY EMBRACING THE OPPORTUNITY THE WAY MINE HAVE!"

"IT MATTERS NOT HOW IT CAME TO PASS," the Prime Entity said, its own vessel's face remaining calm and impassive. "ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT NOW WE HAVE OUR VESSELS, AND ALSO OUR ARMIES, READY FOR BATTLE."

A sizable armada of distinctively Phosphorian ships and soldiers began to rise from the same vortex from which the Prime Entity had entered.

The Black Entity snorted, rolling its vessel's eyes. "YOU NEVER COULD RESIST THE CHANCE TO SHOW OFF YOUR MIGHT BY HAVING YOUR ARMY PRESENT TO PARADE AROUND THE BATTLEFIELD FOR YOU. COULD YOU?"

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!" The Prime Entity gestured its vessel's hands towards its enemy's own armada of followers. "YOU DID EXACTLY THE SAME THING!"

"SO I DID."

The Black Entity leaned its vessel forward, red eyes blazing and shadowy energy crackling around its fists as a small aura of energy shaped like its natural body formed around its vessel. "I GROW TIRED NOW OF SUCH IDLE TALK! LET US FIGHT!"

"YES! LET US FIGHT," the Prime Entity agreed, its own vessel leaning forward with its blue eyes blazing, blinding white lightning crackling around its fists, and an aura shaped like its own natural body taking shape. "AND THIS TIME, LET OUR BATTLE END WITHOUT A WIELDER OF THE DAWN AROUND TO INTERRUPT!"

Starfire mentally raised her eyebrows from her shared position at the mental driver's seat. "Wielder of the dawn? What's that supposed to mean?!"

Blackfire was similarly confused. "Wielder of the dawn? What in X'hal's name does that have to do with a freak eclipse?!"

"HAH!" the Black Entity yelled as it fired his shadowy flames.

"YAH!" the Prime Entity roared as it shot off its white lightning.

The two attacks clashed together explosively, causing a giant burst of shadows and light that sent both vessels careening backwards. The two vessels came to a stop, shook their heads, and then rocketed towards each other, shrieking incoherently. The battle was on.

. . . . .

As the two Entities used their vessels to fight their climactic battle, their respective armies proceeded to clash as well, with the combined forces of Tamaran, Gordania, and the teen titans assisting the Phosphorian army.

Even as the titans added their ship's blaster fire to the increasingly chaotic storm of blasts, they still couldn't help but both wince and feel at awe over the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.

"I don't know about you," said Cyborg. "But I highly doubt that I'll ever be able to see a fireworks show the same way again when this is over."

"Assuming we ever get to see a fireworks show anymore," Beast Boy grumbled. "With how things could turn out if Lightshow over there wins? Anything involving fireworks could well be rendered obsolete. Not to mention so could sleep, and watching the stars, or anything to do with night."

"We'll worry about that later," said Robin. He directed his attention to the dueling sisters. "Right now, all we need to worry about is making sure the Umbrosians don't kill us while we wait for one of those two Entities to call a winner."

Karras and Taryia flew side by side, swerving, careening, and sometimes even barrel rolling as they let loose with their ships' blasters. The soldiers under their command similarly fired continuously at the enemy.

"Raava de zuuso," the two leaders said in unison as they fired.

The Gordanian soldiers were likewise firing endlessly at the Umbrosians with their ships' blasters. Out of all of them, Yarboth and Garzvohg seemed to be the most invested in the task.

"Die shadow scum," the two generals roared.

Galfore and Greerak similarly had the blasters on their royal starships firing away at the enemy, but noticeably kept themselves calm and collected compared to their soldiers.

"Be careful now," said Galfore. "We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves here."

"Be mindful of how much energy you use now," said Greerak. "We need to allow our blasters to maintain a steady power level!"

Naturally, the Phosphorians themselves kept their own powers continuously piling on damage against the Umbrosian army with orbs of light, beams, and similar light-based attacks, shrieking in joy as they mercilessly attacked their hated enemies. Much like their allies, the only members of this army to remain calm and collected were the seven leaders piloting the Phosphorian council ship, who even now had their eyes narrowed as they set their sights on the ship containing the Umbrosian council.

"Eyes on the target," said the head of the Phosphorian council, his blue eyes narrowed in concentration as the pilots of the ship worked to get the targeting system in line with the Umbrosian council ship.

The Umbrosian council, meanwhile, were similarly calm as they worked to get their own ship's blasters focused on the ship of their enemy's leaders. "We may be about to die," Nolfavrel thought to himself. "But that doesn't mean we have to go down without a fight."

As this huge battle unfolded, the two Entities and their vessels, naturally, continued their own epic duel.

. . . . .

Blackfire swung her right fist at Starfire, snarling in rage.

Starfire caught her elder sister by the wrist, her face impassive. "YOU HAVE GOTTEN MORE CARELESS IN YOUR OLD AGE. I AM ALMOST INSULTED."

"WELL LET'S SEE HOW YOU HANDLE THIS THEN!"

Blackfire fired her eye beams, now a crimson red instead of her usual violet.

Starfire, caught off guard, was sent reeling by the beams as they struck her in the chest. She regained her balance, charged up her own eye beams, and fired them at her sister. The brilliant blue lasers that now took the place of Starfire's usual green eye beams plowed into Blackfire, sending her careening backwards.

Starfire flew towards her off balance sister, white lightning crackling on her hands. Blackfire recovered, charged up her shadowy energy, and clapped her hands together, causing an explosive shockwave of shadow fire to erupt from around her and blow her younger sister away. She started to charge up a second attack while her sister was still off balance, but Starfire recovered quickly enough to snap her fingers, causing a maelstrom of white lightning to violently materialize in the area surrounding her, sending Blackfire tumbling down towards the vortex of light.

Starfire bent her knees as if crouching, white light glowing around her hands. She clapped her hands together over her head, causing herself to be engulfed in a rapidly blinking pillar of white light. A second blinking pillar of light considerably slenderer then the one around Starfire erupted from underneath Blackfire, blasting her again and again before both pillars finally faded away for good after their respective 13th blinks.

Blackfire shook her head, snarling in rage. She started charging an orb of darkness in between her hands, then she hurled it upwards. The orb rapidly expanded to the size of a planet as it rose before exploding into multiple meteor sized orbs that went rapidly flying off kilter in Starfire's direction. Starfire swooped left, right, and every other direction she could think of to dodge, but was still hit by several of these shadowy meteors.

While Starfire was still disoriented from the shadowy meteors, Blackfire zoomed towards her, her right fist drawn back and blazing with black energy, ready to punch her younger sister. Starfire, fortunately, regained her senses just in time to do a back flip. The strength of the resulting kick to the charging Blackfire's face, combined with the presence of the Entity aura's tail around her legs, was enough to send Blackfire rocketing backward.

When Blackfire came to a stop, she repositioned herself so that she was once again facing her sister. "YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T PUT UP SUCH A FUSS! YOU'RE GOING TO INEVITABLY LOSE!" Starfire yelled.

"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT," Blackfire hissed. She clenched her fists, snarling in fury as black flames began to form around her entire body. The aura around her glowed as well and seemed to briefly solidify. Then the aura expanded until it was the exact same size as the Entity possessing her was in its natural form, leaving Blackfire herself still positioned in the very center of the aura's body. "MAYBE YOU SHOULD FIGHT SOMEBODY YOUR OWN SIZE YOU PATHETIC GOODY-GOODY!"

"WISH GRANTED!"

Starfire clenched her own fists and snarled while white lightning encased her own body. Within seconds, her own aura had similarly expanded to the same natural size as that of the Entity possessing her.

"HOW'S THIS YOU VILE SHADOW SCUM?!"

Blackfire smirked smugly, the aura encasing her doing the same. "PERFECT!" Blackfire spread her arms, the Entity aura spreading its wings in the process. "LET US CONTINUE OUR DUEL!" Blackfire yelled, the Entity aura's mouth moving in perfect synch with her own.

"SMARTEST THING YOU'VE EVER SAID YOUR ENTIRE LIFE," yelled Starfire and her own possessing Entity.

"GGGGGOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!" Blackfire and the Black Entity roared.

"KKKKRRRRREEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!" Starfire and the Prime Entity shrieked.

Still roaring and shrieking, the two sisters and their respective possessing Entities flew towards each other, eyes blazing and aura jaws gaping open ready to bite.

. . . . .

Beast Boy winced as he saw how the battle between Starfire, Blackfire, and the two Entities was now unfolding. "Oh boy, that's gonna leave a mark!"

Beast Boy was not entirely wrong. In its current state, the battle was becoming quite intense as the two Tamaranean vessels proceeded to fight exclusively through use of their auras. The black aura growled, folded its wings together in front of it, and summoned a line of shadow orbs in front of it. Then it snapped its wings forward, sending all the orbs flying right at the white aura. The orbs crashed into the white aura's chest, dangerously close to Starfire's position, and the aura faltered slightly in its position, flapping its wings to keep itself balanced.

The white aura recovered, squawked in challenge, and rapidly snapped its wings backward. A small storm of white lightning bolts materialized out of thin air and speared the black aura through its head, one from the left, another from the right, and the third from directly above. The black aura howled in pain from the attack, shaking its head side to side to get rid of the pain and regain its focus.

The white aura reared up, Starfire doing the same inside it, and shrieked skyward, eyes glowing. The black aura recovered, roared, and thrusted its tail barb at its enemy. The stinger struck the white aura in the chest, inches above Starfire's head, and the white aura had just enough time to shriek in discomfort before the black aura lunged its head forward and snapped its jaws around the white aura's neck.

The white aura shrieked in pain, rapidly flapping its wings as it tried desperately to pull itself free from the savage biting attack the black aura was subjecting it to. The black aura kept its jaws around its enemy's neck, tightening it as it tried desperately to put its enemy down for good. Then the white aura hissed, lifted up its tail, and then stabbed its spike into the black aura directly beneath Blackfire's feet.

The black aura hissed, its jaws snapping open as it reared its head back to shriek from the pain. The white aura capitalized on this, swerving its head so that it was facing the back of its enemy's head, and then started plunging its beak into that very area multiple times. The black aura hissed and wheezed as it was continuously stabbed in the back of its head by its enemy's sharp beak.

Eventually, the two auras separated and flew backwards. As the titans continued to watch, the two auras drew their heads back, jaws open and glowing on the inside with charging energy.

Cyborg silently whistled. "This oughta be fun."

Sure enough, the two auras snapped their heads forward towards each, releasing their respective breath attacks simultaneously. The stream of shadowy fire and beam of white light collided in the very center of the empty space between the two auras and their vessels and fought for dominance. The titans gaped in awe as a convergence orb began to emerge in the center of the two dueling beams. Even the myriad soldiers of the three armies couldn't help but pause their fighting and watch as the two Entities reached this climactic point in their duel. It was clear just from sight that the two Entities were now truly putting in their all, and that if the battle continued to unfold as it currently was, one of them would almost certainly end up dead.

The air was split with a savage noise. All the combatants turned their heads in the direction of the noise, the two Entities shutting off their connected attack and adding their own gaze to the mix. The noise that they'd heard was a horrific set of three sounds that could only have been appropriate for use as a battle cry the way they were combined together.

The noise started off sounding like the keening shriek of a bird of a prey. Then it morphed into the sound of the wordless guttural yell that a warrior would spout from his throat in the midst of combat. Finally, it transformed unnervingly flawlessly into the heart stopping gurgling choke of a luckless victim choking on his or her own blood. As if this weren't enough, the sheer volume, combined with several other factors, made it sound as if there was an entire army of beings somewhere who'd all just now simultaneously unleashed this savage call to battle.

The entirety of the battlefield gaped in stunned silence towards the direction this noise had come from. Then the silence was broken a 2nd time with the very same earsplitting battle cry as before. Upon hearing this noise a 2nd time, Greerak, Galfore, and all the older soldiers amongst the combined fleet raised their eyebrows in recognition and confusion.

"That battle cry," Galfore thought to himself. "Is that what I think it is?"

"My mother told me about this noise," Greerak thought to himself. "But that's impossible. The species that makes this battle cry. . . they're from all the way in the Polaris System . . . and my kind is still on truce with them . . . why would they be here now?"

The two Entities, however, both narrowed their eyes in rage. And this rage only increased when the battle cry was heard a 3rd time, and they saw a particularly bright green light appear in the distance alongside multiple yellow lights. They knew all too well what had happened the last time a similar moment had occurred during their previous battle from so many centuries earlier. "NO!" they both roared in outrage.

The source of the incoming lights came close enough to be seen clearly. Upon sight of just what had now arrived, the eyes of all the titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians widened in stunned awe. The eyes of the Umbrosians and Phosphorians narrowed in a mixture of irritation and despair. The two Entities snarled, eyes blazing with fury.

"CURSE YOU!" they both roared upon recognizing the new arrivals as exactly what they'd been suspecting.

An entire fleet of Thanagarian warships had arrived, and they all seemed to have their blasters charging and aimed in the direction of the Umbrosian forces. However, there was also one lone figure flying in front of this fleet encased in an aura of green flames that was now proving a subject of rage to the two Entities. For a being very similar to this one had been responsible for their previous battle being interrupted and their conflict's resolution to be postponed for so many years since. However, the sight of this same being was enough to cause the eyes of their vessels to widen in shock, and their jaws to drop. The two of them in particular had especially good reason to recognize this one specific figure now that they were getting a clear look at him for the first time in at least five years.

"Ryand'r?!" they thought to themselves.

 **Plot twist ahoy! Dun, dun dun! In all seriousness though, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter and leave plenty of feedback (remember, a minimum of two reviews is required for this chapter before I post the next one). All that in mind, regardless of any subtle (or not so subtle) bugs or flaws that might be present in my writing style in this chapter, I nonetheless that you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless and that I can improve in later chapters. And if it's any consolation, there were at least a couple flaws that I DID notice while editing this chapter that I at least was able to remove from the chapter before posting. So even if there are still some flaws left over in this final cut of the chapter, take comfort in that there were originally more flaws alongside them in initial cuts of this chapter. All that said, again, I hope you all enjoyed, read, and leave plenty of feedback! Have fun ya'll!**

 **Coming up Next: With the long lost Wildfire present alongside the Thanagarian army, the final battle continues. But just HOW will it all end? Find out next time!**


	17. Sibling Warfare

**Hey everybody! Hope you're ready for yet more Teen Titanic amazingness, because here's the newest chapter! In this chapter, the battle resumes with the long lost Wildfire and the Thanagarian army eagerly taking part in the fray. But just how will this new development affect the battle's outcome now that the Entities are still out and about in possession of Wildfire's sisters? Prepare to find out in this epic new chapter! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I'll just remind you that, with the exception of the Entities and their respective worshipper races, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. Believe me, if I DID own Teen Titans, or DC itself, there would be a LOT of things that I'd change for the better (honestly, it seems these days as if every time Geoff Johns leaves, somebody else at DC (usually Dan Didio, amongst others) manages to screw everything up all over again!). But this isn't the time or place to rant about the current state of DC comics. This is a time and place to enjoy my fantastic Teen Titans fanfiction! So let's get right to that! ^_^**

 **Chapter 16:**

 **Sibling Warfare**

Prince Wildfire of Tamaran narrowed his eyes as he watched from his position in front of the Thanagarian fleet. "It would appear I have arrived just in time." He came to a stop, the Thanagarians halting their own ships behind him in response.

"The battle has well and truly begun," he shouted. "My people and our mutual sworn enemies have joined and added their power to this mixture together! But now, let us join in alongside them! Let us complete the alliance our kin shared the last time this happened!" He pointed his finger at the Umbrosian fleet. "ATTACK!"

With a guttural yell, the Thanagarians all began firing their blasters at the Umbrosians. The shadowy beings had no time to react before they found themselves once again being massacred by a massive onslaught of blaster fire.

The Gordanians and Tamaraneans needed no further prompting, and they added their own ships' blaster fire to the onslaught alongside the Thanagarians. The Phosphorians also resumed their own attacks against the Umbrosians. As much as they had the feeling that the battle would soon forcibly come to an end, they figured they might as well make the most out of what time they had left to keep fighting their hated enemies before their conflict was forcibly ended and postponed yet again.

The Tamaranean who'd led the Thanagarians to the battle took one look at the two Entities and their vessels and flew towards them, his fists and eyes glowing green.

"Should we help him?" Beast Boy asked.

Robin narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the lone Tamaranean boy heading towards the two Entities. "Something tells me that he'll be able to handle himself just fine."

. . . . .

Wildfire came to a stop inches away from his sisters. He narrowed his eyes at the increasingly solid looking auras around them. Then he sighed, and hung his head. "Koriand'r," he stated. "Komand'r. It has been so long." He looked up. "I'm sure you and Galfore were wondering where I was for the last five years. But I am back now, and I know you're in there somewhere with those Entities possessing you. As your brother, I ask you to come back."

Starfire and Blackfire briefly felt shocked from their positions in the mental backseats. Then they found themselves feeling happy that it was indeed their brother floating before them. In that moment, they both wanted nothing more than to fly over and hug their little brother, cry, and ask where he'd been. The two Entities, however, had other ideas, and they were the ones in control.

"LEAVE US BE LITTLE ONE," said the Prime Entity. "THIS IS A MATTER STRICTLY BETWEEN THE TWO OF US, AND IT WILL END BADLY FOR YOUR ELDEST SISTER. STAY OUT OF THIS AND LET US HANDLE OUR BUSINESS OURSELVES!"

"YOUR SISTERS ARE GONE," the Black Entity snapped. "MY ENEMY AND I ARE ONLY MINUTES AWAY FROM ASSUMING FULL PHYSICAL FORM OUTSIDE OUR DOMAINS! ONCE THAT IS DONE, YOUR SISTERS' BODIES SHALL BE CAST ASIDE AS DROOLING VEGETABLES AS WE ARE RELEASED! BEGONE CHILD! LET YOUR ELDERS HANDLE THEIR OWN BUSINESS!"

Wildfire narrowed his eyes, clenched his fists, and shook his head. "No." He pointed at the two auras encasing his sisters. "Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere."

The Entities snarled. "FINE THEN," the Black Entity roared. "IF THIS IS HOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE, I'LL _MAKE_ YOU GO AWAY!" It reared back and then thrusted its head forward, firing a blast of shadowy fire from its mouth at the Tamaranean prince. The Prime Entity had no time to react, and Wildfire was engulfed in the Black Entity's blast.

"RYAND'R!" Galfore yelled, his eyes widened in horror and his hand uselessly extended in Wildfire's direction as he helplessly watched the boy's apparent death. The other Tamaraneans similarly watched in horror alongside the stunned Gordanians and titans, smug Umbrosians, and resigned Phosphorians as the Black Entity seemed to destroy Wildfire. Starfire and Blackfire similarly felt horror, despair, and rage as they helplessly watched from their mental backseats. Only the Thanagarians seemed to be unperturbed by the matter, and this was enough for the Prime Entity to raise its 'eyebrow' in suspicion.

Sure enough, when the Black Entity finally ended its attack, Wildfire was revealed to still be floating exactly where he'd been, completely unharmed.

The eyes of all the other prior combatants widened, and the Thanagarians nodded their heads as if not surprised at all. The most stunned of all, however, were the two Entities and their respective vessels.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" the Black Entity screamed.

Wildfire shook his head, placed his hand against the side of his neck, and gave himself a crick. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere."

"YOU CERTAINLY AREN'T GOING TO BE DESTROYED," said the Prime Entity. "NONETHELESS, I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO INTERFERE THE WAY YOUR ANCESTER DID ALL THOSE CENTURIES AGO! BEGONE!"

It fired a beam of light from its beak at the Tamaranean prince, intending to knock him backwards and as far away from it and its enemy as possible. This time, Wildfire didn't even allow himself to be fully engulfed by the attack. Instead, he lifted his hand and blocked it entirely with his right palm. Eventually, the Prime Entity shut off its attack out of sheer frustration. "NO FAIR!"

Wildfire shook his head, his eyes now closed. "Oh but it is fair. After all." He opened his now suddenly solid yellow eyes. "The dawn is neither 100% darkness nor 100% light."

The eyes of the two Entities, plus those of all the Umbrosians and Phosphorians, widened in stunned shock and horror upon sight of this detail. "A wielder of the dawn," the soldiers all whispered in unison.

Wildfire nodded his head. "I shall only ask you this once. Release my sisters, take your armies, and return from whence you came willingly. Refuse, and I will have no choice but to force you into doing so."

The Black Entity snarled. "NEVER! I'VE WAITED TOO LONG FOR THIS MOMENT! I'M NOT GONNA TURN AROUND AND RUN AWAY WITH MY TAIL BETWEEN MY LEGS! ESPECIALLY NOT ON THE SAY SO OF A WEAKLING LIKE YOURSELF! I DARE YOU TO TRY TO MAKE ME!"

"DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM YOU FOOL!" the Prime Entity roared.

"Wish granted."

The solid yellow light in Wildfire's eyes spread into the aura of green flames encasing his body, turning it bright yellow as well. He raised his hands as star shaped bursts of energy began to charge on them. Upon finishing his charging for the attack, he fired beams of yellow energy from his hands at the two aura's heads.

The two Entities howled in pain as Wildfire's beams crashed into the sides of their heads. They shook their heads to regain their bearings, turned to face Wildfire, and roared in fury.

The council members of their respective worshippers were similarly enraged.

"Destroy him!" yelled Nolfavrel. "He has struck the almighty himself!"

"Attack!" yelled the head councilman of Phosphoria. "His attack on the almighty shall not go unanswered!"

Both council ships fired a merciless storm of blaster fire in Wildfire's direction. Without even looking, Wildfire snapped his fingers, and a forcefield of yellow light emerged behind him that the blasts harmlessly slammed into. The two councils halted their fire, uncertain now of how to proceed.

Wildfire turned his head, eyes now blazing. He shut off the force field, drew back his right had and then swiped it forward, sending a small wave of shadowy energy flying at the Phosphorian council's ship. The shadowy attack slammed into the giant lightning bolt-shaped ship, sending it spinning around backwards away from the Entities.

Twelve of the Umbrosian council members, plus the pilots and underlings aboard the Umbrosian council's ship, sniggered and chuckled at the sight. "About time they got knocked from their high horse," the 12 council members thought to themselves.

Nolfavrel, however, was still paying attention to Wildfire' and his red eyes widened in horror as he saw what the young Tamaranean prince was about to do next. "LOOK OUT! HE'S ABOUT TO . . .!"

With an incoherent snarl of rage, Wildfire fired a giant beam of white light straight at the Umbrosian council's ship. The beam plowed straight through the front of the ship and came to a stop at the center, at which point it struck the main core and caused the ship to explode in an impossibly large burst of fire and light, killing all the Umbrosians on board.

Wildfire returned his attention to the two Entities just in time to see them fighting each other once more. He rolled his eyes. "Typical. Even when possessed, my sisters end up in petty scuffles with each other." He flew back in their direction.

. . . . .

The Black Entity spat out orb after orb of shadowy energy, hissing and snarling as it tried as hard as it could to gun down its sworn enemy. The Prime Entity similarly hissed and squawked in rage as it spat out its own salvo of orbs of white light towards its hated rival.

A blast of yellow energy slammed into the side of the Black Entity's head, and it howled in rage before turning its head to face Wildfire. The Prime Entity, refusing to let itself get distracted too easily, continued spitting out orbs of light at the distracted Black Entity. The Black Entity hissed and wheezed as it shook itself side to side in an effort to shake off the discomfort from getting hit by the multiple bursts of light.

The Prime Entity shrieked in surprise when it was suddenly grabbed by the crest and dragged backwards off balance. Its tail smacked into the Black Entity's jaw, sending the shadowy deity careening backwards.

The Prime Entity reached towards its crest with its tail, wrapped it around Wildfire, and then hurled him away. The Tamaranean prince came to a stop in the center of where the two Entities had earlier been battling. At the sound of roaring and hissing, his eyes widened as he realized that the two entities were charging from opposite directions straight towards him. He dove out of the way, and the two Entities crashed into each other headfirst.

The Entities shook their heads, snarling irritably. Then they roared down at Wildfire and fired their breath attacks in his direction in the form of concentrated beams. Wildfire flew as fast he could to dodge the blasts, only to inadvertently cause the Black Entity to get itself hit by the Prime Entity's breath in its efforts to lean forward to successfully blast him. This caused the Black Entity to howl in rage and pain before it then turned its attention to its enemy and blasted it on the side of its head. The Prime Entity shrieked in fury and turned its own blast away from Wildfire and into its enemy's face.

Then the Entities began wildly whipping their breath attacks around in all directions in furious efforts to kill each other, inadvertently massacring sizable numbers of each other's native troops and forcing the titans, Tamaraneans, Gordanians, and Thanagarians to hurriedly swoop their ships out of the way to avoid getting reduced to space ash. So focused were the Entities on trying to kill each other that they again failed to notice Wildfire flying back towards them once more.

Once he'd come to a stop directly above the dueling Entities, he sent a storm of golden star bolts raining down on them. They roared in shock at the unexpected attack, growled upwards at him with hate in their eyes, and fired their breath attacks at him. Wildfire dodged, making a point to blast the Prime Entity in the back with his eye beams as he dove downwards from behind it.

The Prime Entity shrieked, turned its head, and snapped its beak in Wildfire's direction. Wildfire dodged, and the Entity's beak clenched shut around empty space. It had just enough time to narrow its eyes and warble angrily at Wildfire before it was then blasted on the back of its head by the Black Entity's breath attack. Quick as a viper, the Prime Entity turned its head and lunged at its enemy, its beak snapping shut around the Black Entity's neck. The Black Entity howled, and uselessly snapped its teeth as it tried to turn its head around to bite at its enemy's own neck.

The Black Entity finally realized its efforts were not working, and it stabbed the Prime Entity in the back with its tail, causing its enemy to let go. The Prime Entity shrieked in pain and flew away.

The two Entities snarled at each other, and coated themselves in crackling auras of energy, charging attacks in the process. Wildfire noticed this, and flew towards them just in time for them to unleash their attacks. Giant shockwaves of shadows and light erupted from around the two Entities, knocking Wildfire and all the ships and soldiers backwards.

When the lingering energy from the shockwaves finally faded away, the two Entities were revealed to have made immense progress in their transition to full corporeality. In fact, their images now appeared so solid looking that a distinctively shaped glowing outline in their respective chests were all that could now be seen of the Tamaranean sisters they were possessing.

Wildfire's eyes widened upon catching sight of this. The titans, Tamaraneans, and Gordanians were similarly surprised by this.

"This doesn't look good," said Beast Boy.

The Black Entity grinned, its red eyes agleam. "YES! YES! THIS IS WHAT I LIKE!"

The Prime Entity nodded, similarly in approval of how close it was to rising above its need to have a vessel. "I WILL ADMIT, I AM LIKING THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT." It looked directly at its enemy, its blue eyes narrowed at the smug look on its face. "ONCE WE HAVE FULLY BECOME TRULY CORPOREAL AND CAST ADIDE OUR VESSELS, IT WILL BE ALL THE EASIER FOR ME TO KILL YOU!"

"HA! I'D LOVE TO SEE YOU TRY!" The Black Entity chuckled, and directed its gaze at the glowing red outline of Blackfire within its body. "SOON WE WILL BE ABOVE OUR LONGSTANDING NEED TO HAVE A VESSEL IN ORDER TO EXIST OUTSIDE OUR DOMAINS! AND WE HAVE THIS PAIR OF SISTERS DESCENDED FROM OUR PREVIOUS HOSTS TO THANK FOR IT! ONCE I HAVE KILLED YOU AND DEVOURED THE MINDLESS VEGETABLE THAT IS LEFT OF YOUR HOST, I SHALL RESTORE MY OWN HOST'S MIND AND LEAVE HER TO RULE THE VEGA SYSTEM AS MY FOLLOWERS PROMISED WHILE I CAST THE REST OF THE UNIVERSE INTO MY DARKNESS!"

"I'M AFRAID IT WILL BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND, MONSTER!"

"OH YEAH? PROVE IT!"

"WITH PLEASURE!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

The Entities looked in the direction Wildfire's voice had come from, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP, DO YOU?"

Wildfire narrowed his own eyes at the Black Entity. "You could say that."

The Prime Entity raised its eyebrow. "WELL YOU'D BE WISE TO LEAVE, WHILE YOU STILL CAN. WE ARE FAR ENOUGH ALONG IN OUR ASSENSCION THAT IT WOULD TAKE A MIRACLE FOR IT TO BE STOPPED WITHOUT KILLING YOUR SISTERS. FURTHERMORE, I CAN TELL FROM YOUR AURA THAT YOUR CURRENT CONTROL OVER THE POWER OF THE DAWN WILL NOT LAST TOO MUCH LONGER. AND ONCE THOSE POWERS HAVE LEFT YOU, YOU WILL NO LONGER HAVE ANY PROTECTION FROM GETTING BLASTED TO DUST BY OUR ATTACKS. SO GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN, AND TAKE YOUR ARMY WITH YOU."

Wildfire snarled, and flew to directly between the two Entities. "Like I told you. I'm not going anywhere. Especially not without my sisters."

The Black Entity raised its eyebrow. "WELL IF YOU'RE GOING TO CONTINUE BEING DIFFICULT, THEN I SUPPOSE I'LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP BLASTING AT YOU UNTIL YOUR CONTROL OF THE DAWN POWER FINALLY LEAVES YOU!" It opened its mouth, its breath attack charging up.

The Prime Entity sighed. "IF YOU WISH TO STAY, THEN I SUPPOSE I'LL PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY." It opened its beak, its own breath attack charging up.

Wildfire remained where he was, a determined look on his face despite his gradually fading dawn power, and he extended his hands and arms sideways, his palms directly facing the two Entities.

As this happened, all the soldiers watched in a mixture of intrigue and uncertainty. The titans, Tamaraneans, Gordanians, and Thanagarians were all very concerned and uncertain as to whether they should try to intervene on Wildfire's behalf. The still living Umbrosians and Phosphorians, on the other hand, were all very intrigued and curious as to just what this Tamaranean prince planned to do against their respective gods. Blackfire and Starfire, meanwhile, could only watch helplessly from their mental backseats.

"Ryand'r," Starfire thought to herself. "What are you doing? Get out of here!"

"Brother," Blackfire thought to herself. "Don't do this. For X'hal's sake, don't do this. I already have to lose my sister. I don't want to lose you to."

Wildfire tensed up, gritting his teeth as the charging time neared its end for the Entities' breath attacks. The Prime Entity released its breath attack first, the resulting beam of white light slamming against Wildfire's right palm. The Black Entity fired its own breath seconds later, the similarly massive burst of shadowy energy crashing against Wildfire's left palm.

Wildfire winced, and briefly faltered, as the two breath attacks pounded against his palms. It took all his willpower not to black out as he concentrated on using his gradually waning dawn powers to absorb the two blasts. The two Entities kept blasting away, trying desperately to overwhelm the boy and force his dawn powers to hurry up in their departure.

The onlookers' hearts leapt into their mouths when they saw Wildfire seem to become engulfed in tendrils of black and white lightning, and he let out an inhuman scream. The Entities, thinking themselves to be making progress in finally eliminating him, doubled the power of their blasts.

"FINALLY," the Black Entity thought to itself. "THE NUISANCE SHALL DIE!"

The black and white lightning tendrils began to have an effect on Wildfire's golden yellow aura, turning it a dark red with streaks of black and causing it to expand in size. As it grew bigger and bigger, the streaks of black also increased to the point that they almost completely overtook the red.

It wasn't until the aura had expanded into the size and shape of a planet that the two Entities finally shut off their breath attacks. However, as indicated by their now widened and horrified eyes, it was clear that their breath attacks' cessation had nothing to do with feeling triumphant. And as the various onlookers themselves took a close look at the state of Wildfire's aura, they too came to realize just why the two Entities were now likely looking so wary.

"Your excellency," said one of the Tamaranean Royal starship's pilots. "The prince's aura; it looks just like. . ."

"An eclipse," Galfore finished, his green eyes widened in shock and realization.

Greerak similarly was stunned speechless as he watched from his own specially reserved starship. "By Zog," he hissed in awe.

Even the titans were in awe as they watched the eclipse-like form that Wildfire's aura had taken. In fact, the only groups who weren't stunned by this development were the Thanagarians, Umbrosians, and Phosphorians. But while the Thanagarians merely nodded their heads as if they'd been expecting exactly this turn of events, the Umbrosians and Phosphorians all now looked terrified, and so did the two Entities.

"CURSES," the Black Entity hissed bitterly to itself in its mind. "IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!"

The Prime Entity sighed, and nodded its head resignedly. "HERE IT COMES. IT WOULD APPEAR KORIAND'R THAT YOU GOT WHAT YOU ORIGINALLY DESIRED AFTER ALL."

The aura around Wildfire rapidly shrunk in size, and eventually disappeared into Wildfire entirely, revealing him to be miraculously still completely unharmed. Then he opened his eyes, revealing one of them to now be glowing red and the other to be glowing blue. He turned around so that he was facing the assembled armies, his palms now each facing the respective opposite direction from the ones they'd faced before. With a guttural scream, he fired bursts of energy from his hands. A giant burst of red light shot out of his left hand towards the Prime Entity and a similarly massive burst of blue light came rocketing out of his right hand towards the Black Entity. The two blasts completely engulfed the two Entities, who hissed and shrieked in a mixture of shock and pain.

"HOLY SMOKES," Cyborg yelled.

The two Entities cursed mentally as they felt their power weaken and their holds on their respective vessels rapidly fading away.

"DAMN YOU," the Black Entity hissed as it felt its hold on Blackfire's body and mind rapidly dwindle away. "BY THE UNIVERSE, DAMN YOU!"

"YOU GOT YOUR WISH KORIAND'R," the Prime Entity warbled. "BUT KNOW THIS, THE NEXT TIME MY ENEMY AND I DO BATTLE WITH EACH OTHER, IT WILL _NOT_ END IN A DRAW!"

The last lingering strands of the Entities' hold on their respective vessels evaporated, and they had just enough time to unleash a final earsplitting hiss and shriek before they were forcefully expelled from their hosts in the form of serpentine clouds of shadow and light particles that went rocketing straight back through the very vortexes from which they'd arrived.

Mere seconds after the two Entities had thus forcibly exited the battlefield when tendrils of light and dark energy sprouted out of the respective vortexes, wrapped around the entirety of the Umbrosian and Phosphorian armies, and then rapidly retracted into the vortexes, yanking the two armies quite violently away from the battlefield and back towards their respective homes. The Umbrosian and Phosphorian soldiers had just enough to let off a despairing inhuman wail in unison before they all disappeared through the vortexes to their respective homes, which closed immediately after they'd all vanished through them.

With the vortexes closed, all that remained present on the battlefield were the various Thanagarian, Gordanian, and Tamaranean ships, the titans in their distinctive orange T-Ship, Blackfire's giant purple star cruiser, and the three Tamaranean royal siblings.

Wildfire took a deep breath, and then exhaled. He opened his eyes, now back to their natural green color. His golden yellow aura reappeared around him for a brief moment, and then started to turn dim before eventually disappearing altogether. As this happened, he felt the vast dawn-based power that had flooded him not to long ago finally finish departing from his system.

Starfire opened her eyes, looking half asleep and weak. Then she looked in Wildfire's direction. After several minutes of blank staring and waiting for her mind to fully reassert its own strength and presence, her eyes widened in shock and joy upon realizing that she was not hallucinating. Her long lost younger brother, whom she'd spent at least three years believing to be dead and another 2½ hopelessly wondering the whereabouts of, had indeed come to the battlefield and was even now still floating in front of her. The Tamaranean boy eventually noticed, and he chuckled nervously, rubbing his hand across the back of his fiery hair with a sheepish look in his green eyes.

Starfire sniffled, happy tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Wildfire!" She rocketed towards the boy, plowing into him and embracing him in a tight hug. Her brother's eyes widened in shock and he briefly grimaced in discomfort at the sheer tightness of his sister's embrace. Then he noticed his sister's head on his shoulder and heard her struggling to keep herself from crying.

"You're alive," she whimpered. "Ryand'r . . . you've . . . come back. Where . . . where were you . . . brother?"

Wildfire gulped, now feeling guilty, and he hugged his sister back. "It's alright Koriand'r," he stated. "I know its been a long time. I promise I'll explain everything as soon as I get the chance. But for now, I'm back. And for now, that's all that matters."

Starfire sniffled, and then started weeping in a mixture of joy and sadness while she and her brother continued to embrace.

Wildfire noticed that Blackfire was still floating around where she'd been at the time of the Black Entity's departure, clearly with full mental capacity, but looking uncertain as to what to do. In an impulsive act of brotherly love, he lifted his right hand off of Starfire's shoulder and beckoned lightly for Blackfire to come join him and their sister, turning his head to directly face her in the process.

The youngest and oldest siblings of the Tamaranean royal trio stared each other in the eyes. A silent conversation ensued between them.

"Come here," Wildfire indicated through his body language. "Come and join us. I know you want to."

Blackfire directed an uncertain look at her siblings, then grimaced awkwardly, and then hung her head. "No," she indicated. "I can't."

"Sure you can," Wildfire indicated. "Kori and I are right here in front of you. And I'm more than willing to let you hug me alongside her."

"Ryand'r," Blackfire indicated. "I really can't. I want to. I really do. But I can't. I don't even deserve it now. There are things that I've done since you vanished. Terrible things. You'd never forgive me for them if you knew about them."

"I don't care. You're still my sister, and I did not come all this way after all these years to properly reunite with only one of my sisters. I've come to reunite with both of them. Whatever happens to you after this on account of the things you've done while I was away, that can wait. For now, just take advantage of the time you have before then, and join us."

Blackfire hesitated for a couple seconds longer. But then her resolve finally left her, and she flew right over to where her siblings were, embracing them both in a tight hug of her own. As she added her own crying face to Wildfire's other shoulder, the Tamaranean prince closed his eyes and tightened his own embrace around both of his older sisters. He knew that the eldest of his sisters still had a lot to answer for. He also knew that he himself had a lot of explaining to do about his own whereabouts from the last few years. But for now, all that mattered to him was that the universe was safe once more, and that he was finally reunited once more with both of his sisters.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I** ** _REALLY_** **hope you like this chapter! I personally pretty proud of myself for how this one turned out ^_^. But if this didn't turn out nearly as good for you as it did to me, then don't feel ashamed to let me know (provided you do so in a constructive way as opposed to a 'flaming' way). All that said, again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave a respectable amount of feedback (remember, this new chapter requires an exact minimum of 2 reviews before I allow the next (sufficiently edited) chapter to be posted). Have a nice day everyone!**

 **Coming up Next: With the 'war' over and the Phosphorians and Umbrosians once more contained in their respective homes, the time has come to pass judgment on Blackfire and Cometbolt! What shall the verdict be?**


	18. Justice is Served

**Hey everybody! I hope you all are ready for yet another amazing (I hope) chapter, because here it is! In this chapter, with the universe safe once more and the long lost Wildfire having finally returned, the time has come for trial and judgment to be passed upon Blackfire and Cometbolt. What shall the verdict be? Find out, in this new chapter! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you all again that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward we go!**

 **Chapter 17:**

 **Justice is Served**

"Let the trial begin!" yelled Lord Zuus'ad of Tamaran.

All the other Tamaraneans in the Tamaranean Palace throne room, plus the Gordanians and Thanagarians present, cheered their assent. The four Earthlings present stayed silent, briefly directing glances towards the smaller temporary throne to Galfore's left that Starfire was currently seated upon. Her green eyes were impassive as they gazed ahead towards where first her sister, and later Cometbolt, would be brought to stand and answer for their crimes. Wildfire, standing directly to Starfire's left, also directed a concerned glance at his sister, half proud of her for taking a direct role in the trial to unfold, and half worried as to whether she'd have the strength to go through with the potentially tough decisions and harsh judgments that would need to be made.

Zuus'ad turned his head to look behind him where Galfore, Greerak, and Lord Hanrac Thul of Thanagar were seated. The three rulers nodded, Hanrac even turning his head to face the area near the entrance where two of his generals were standing and holding a cuffed, chained, and collared Blackfire. Standing right next to them were Yarboth and Garzvohg, who were holding onto a similarly restrained Ph'yzzon. Hanrac directed his attention back to Zuus'ad, his eyebrow raised underneath his hawk-like helmet.

Zuus'ad nodded, turned to face the two prisoners, and gestured his hand towards Blackfire. "As ordered, the first of the accused!"

With a grunt of acknowledgement, the two Thanagarian generals Penryk and Gryff stepped forward, dragging Blackfire over to where she was to stand for the trial. Once Blackfire was appropriately positioned, her handlers stepped back, and she looked ahead towards Zuus'ad, Galfore, and her siblings.

Zuus'ad pointed his finger at Blackfire. "Princess Komand'r. Today you stand trial for terrible crimes against Tamaran, the entirety of the Vega system, and beyond. Over the last few weeks, you have been caught in the act of consorting with Umbrosians, wantonly attacking multiple planets throughout the galaxy without call, granting the newly revealed traitor Ph'yzzon the chance to attempt to commit mental defilement upon Princess Koriand'r, and also for arranging the attempted murder of Koriand'r, her friends, and his Excellency Emperor Galfore."

Zuus'ad lifted his staff of office, slamming the bottom end upon the floor. "You have been twice exiled from Tamaran before now. You were first exiled by the late Emperor Myand'r and his late wife Empress Luand'r for the unspeakable treason you committed in selling your own sister to our then sworn enemies, the Gordanians, in exchange for the ceasefire that ended our last war with them."

Cometbolt's eyes widened upon hearing this, and he gaped in Blackfire's direction. He had most definitely _not_ been aware of this matter. As if feeling her partner's scrutiny on her, Blackfire winced with an awkward half grimace on her face.

"You were exiled again three years later after you staged an invasion against Tamaran by the forces of Dranthax IV, forcibly took the empty throne for yourself, and attempted to have your sister married off against her will to Lord Glgrdsklechhh of Dranthax IV. Now, here you are, once again having committed terrible crimes and facing judgment from us." He pointed his finger at Blackfire. "To that, I say, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Silence hung in the air. Then Blackfire sighed, and hung her head. "Why are you even doing this?"

"I fail to see what you mean."

"This trial. Why are you even allowing me to have it? Like you said, I have been twice exiled before now, and I didn't receive a trial before either of those two times."

"There were many amongst us who were tempted to subject judgment upon you a 3rd time without trial. However, on account of both your ancestor Nightfire himself being granted a fair trial before his execution, and your siblings' own insistence, his Excellency has decided to allow you the courtesy of a trial this time. Now I repeat, what do you have to say for yourself? Remember, it is required that you speak only the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth."

"Well if that's true, why should I bother to speak if, in telling exactly what you ask, I wouldn't be telling you what you want to hear?"

"How can you know that for certain?"

As everyone else in the room looked in his direction, Greerak got up from his makeshift throne and pointed his trident at Blackfire. "How do you know whether we want you say that you genuinely regret your actions and wish for mercy and a chance to atone? How do you know whether we want you to say that you feel no regret whatsoever and grant us all the more reason to grant you a death penalty right here and now?"

Multiple other occupants in the room nodded their heads and grunted assent to Greerak's questions. Even Cometbolt found himself nodding his head with a firm scowl on his face, clearly finding appeal in Blackfire being given the death penalty now that he knew she'd been responsible for selling Starfire to the Gordanians.

Blackfire shook her head. "Regardless of which of those options you want, you'd still be only proven half right if I were to tell you the full truth."

"Really?"

Hanrac leaned forward, his eyes appropriately narrowed and glaring Blackfire's way like the bird his helmet was styled after. "Why don't you go ahead and enlighten us all then? Y'grath knows we're not in any hurry."

The rest of the room's occupants voiced their assent.

"If I must."

Blackfire stared directly at Zuus'ad, a determined look in her purple eyes. "For the most part, I have no regret for casting my lot with the Umbrosians. After how much I'd been wronged, how much had been taken from me, and how much I'd failed in the past, I believed that only something truly extreme could grant me a proper chance to succeed for once."

Greerak raised his eyebrow. "You said 'for the most part'. Does this mean that there are some parts where you in fact _do_ feel regret for your actions?"

"I do not regret forging an alliance with the Umbrosians. I do not regret the attacks my allies and I committed against the planets we assaulted. I do not regret being willing to fight an outright war against Tamaran alongside them. I definitely do not regret having to call upon the power of the Black Entity." Blackfire then sighed, and hung her head. "I do, however, regret at least one thing."

"What would that be?" Galfore asked.

Zuus'ad raised his eyebrow upon hearing his emperor speak for him, but wisely held his tongue.

Blackfire glanced at her old caretaker, staring directly into his eyes. "I do regret how I ultimately agreed to what my partner Cometbolt had planned for my sister. In the heat of the moment where he made the offer, I was happy to accept. But now, having had time to think and reflect, I've since changed my mind. In fact, immediately after my sister freed herself from her restraints and joined her friends in the battle against him, I will admit that a part of me felt relieved that she was able to escape and prevent him from fulfilling his intended plan for her."

"And what makes you so regretful about this particular choice? As has been established, you had already committed plenty of despicable actions against her yourself. What would have made letting Cometbolt alter her mind any different in your eyes?"

"The answer is quite simple Galfore. The Citadel Coliseum? She would at least have died fighting like the warrior she is. The Centauri Moons Jail? The crime I framed her for was a fairly minor crime. The worst sentencing she would have gotten would have been 5 years maximum in prison, and a fairly humane prison at that. Married off to Glgrdsklechhh? I had his word on good faith that she would be treated kindly and that no harm, cruelty, or disrespect would come to her. Killing her in combat over the course of any of the battles with the Umbrosians? Well, just like with the Citadel Coliseum, honorable and dignified death in combat as herself.

"But to allow her to undergo the fate that Cometbolt had in mind? That would have allowed her neither an honorable death, nor the chance to live happily as herself. If Cometbolt had been successful, she would have had all her memories, her entire personality, and every ounce of her free will permanently erased from her mind and replaced to the point that she'd have only been a weak and powerless shell devoted entirely to pleasing Cometbolt with zero mind of her own. When I first agreed to allowing Cometbolt the chance to do what he planned, I was angry enough at my sister to believe that she truly deserved something that cruel in comparison to killing her in combat, and that I hated her enough to not even care whether she had a kind fate dealt upon her or not. But over time, I realized that, contrary to my original expectations, I do in fact still care about my sister, in my own way. Thus, why I'm even now quite happy indeed that she was able to escape from her captivity and help her friends foil Cometbolt's plans herself."

She nodded her head. "I may have no regret about any of my other actions over the last few weeks. But I will forever regret even considering allowing my sister to come so close to undergoing the beyond cruel fate that Cometbolt desired for her. I am not ashamed to admit as much."

She placed her cuffed hands upon the top of the podium she was standing at. "Is there even any more that needs to be said or done? You all know how far I've gone at this point, and you all believe I deserve the worst for the actions I've committed. So what are you waiting for? If you really hate me so much and want me to be punished for my actions so badly, then go ahead and sentence your verdict upon me."

"You are certain of this Komand'r?" Galfore asked.

"You have nothing more you wish to say in your defense?" Greerak asked.

"What more could I say that I haven't already said in the past? More than once even?"

She looked her old caretaker in the eyes. "Yes Galfore. I am certain. Just say the verdict and get it over with. You know I've gone too far now. You all do. So stop prolonging things and put everyone out of their misery."

Silence hung in the air, the occupants all gazing silently at Blackfire. Even Cometbolt, as much as he now wanted her dead, couldn't help but nod his head in grudging respect. "Better to face death with dignity than to go out begging for your life like a coward," he thought to himself.

The three rulers looked each other in the eyes. Then they looked at Starfire and Wildfire, much to everyone else's confusion. Then they looked back at Blackfire.

"Very well," said Galfore. "We shall grant you your verdict."

Greerak snapped his fingers, and Starfire rose from her throne and walked into position directly next to Zuus'ad. Blackfire's eyes widened in shock, evidently having not expected her own sister to voice the verdict.

"We have all carefully weighed your actions," Starfire began. "And we have equally carefully measured your potential guilt and regret. But in the end, we find you guilty of all the crimes you've currently been accused of as well as of all the crimes that you'd committed against me in the past."

Blackfire hung her head, resigning herself to the facts.

"And as punishment for your crimes, I hereby sentence you. . ."

Blackfire closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the announcement of what she was sure would be a death sentence.

"To serve time at one of the penitence camps on New Alliance."

Blackfire's eyes widened in shock. Cometbolt and many of the other occupants in the room were similarly stunned.

"WHAT?!" yelled everyone in the room apart from Starfire, Wildfire, and the three rulers.

"She can't be serious," Robin thought to himself.

"I understand that this is not what you all were expecting, and I realize that many of you believe any fate short of a death sentence would be far kinder than she deserves."

"Then why?" Garzvohg asked.

"Yes, why?" said Yarboth. "You of all people should have the most reason to want her dead. Especially after everything that she's done to you over all these years."

"That is correct."

Everyone in the room looked to Wildfire, who stepped forward to stand at his sister's side. "She did have every reason to want to give our elder sister a death sentence. In fact, she was one of the first to suggest that very fate during our discussions before the trials began. Greerak, Hanrac, and his excellency all agreed to this fate as well. But it was my counsel during this meeting that eventually convinced them otherwise."

"Enlighten us then," said Karras.

"Gladly. There are several reasons why, despite her more than deserving it, a death sentence isn't the right choice for her. For one, how can we say for certain that killing her won't ultimately make her a martyr to someone else the way Nightfire ended up serving as one to her?"

This was enough to get the rest of the room's occupants to think to themselves in silence. Wildfire certainly had a point.

"One of the key reasons Blackfire was so willing to work with the Umbrosians was how she clearly identified herself so much with Nightfire. And if we were to kill her here the way Nightfire was, who's to say that her death won't inspire another disgruntled royal Tamaranean from following in her and Nightfire's footsteps?

"Furthermore, there is Blackfire's reasoning and motives to consider. As the history scrolls say, Nightfire had no regrets at all, and was a true villain through and through over the course of his efforts to seize the throne with help from the Umbrosians."

He raised his finger. "Yes, it can be argued that Blackfire is no different. But at the same time, such a rebuttal isn't true. For also according to the history records, Nightfire himself received affection and genuine parental love from his parents equal to that received by Dayfire and Dawnfire, even in spite of his hair and eye color. Blackfire, on the other hand, was viewed with misgivings from the day of her birth, and was constantly shafted in favor of Starfire and I. Judging by how things have since turned out, it can be argued that our parents and people were so afraid that she'd end up like Nightfire that they unwittingly turned her into exactly what they feared she'd be like."

"A tragic possibility," Karras admitted.

"Yes," said Yarboth. "But what does this have to do with this current situation?"

"It is simple. What Blackfire has done? Yes, she definitely needs to answer for it. All of it. But is death what she deserves? No. What she needs, is help. And to achieve that, I believe that there is no better option then what is available at the penitence camps on New Alliance. From the amount of skill the handlers there have shown, if anyone can give my sister the care she needs to resolve her issues and change her ways, it is them."

Wildfire stared straight at all the assembled beings in the throne room. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just being a naïve little brother who refuses to accept the possibility that my eldest sister is truly evil to the core and just as incapable of redemption as Nightfire. Maybe the only reason I haven't lost faith so thoroughly as my other sister has come so close to doing in recent times is because of how little I've interacted with Blackfire in the days following my departure. But as her brother, I believe that, at the very least, she deserves one last chance. They always say that the 3rd time is the charm."

He hung his head. "But I will also say this, in the event that not even the work of the professionals at the New Alliance penitence camps is enough, and she ends up thanking us for this 3rd chance at redeeming herself by committing yet another morally reprehensible act? Then regardless of whether or not said act manages to top allying herself with the Umbrosians, I will stand back and accept her being granted the death penalty. But only if this 3rd chance I am willing to grant her isn't enough to finally heal her and get her to change her ways and forgive us."

In that instant, as Wildfire stood where he was, head hanging, and shoulders slumped, both of his sisters briefly saw him as the young and innocent little boy he'd once been, but now thoroughly broken and on the verge of an irreparably crushed spirit. It was now clear just from looking at him how much he desperately wanted to believe that his eldest sister wasn't truly lost to the darkness, and how much he'd be crushed if the very thing he didn't want to believe turned out to be true.

Blackfire sniffled quietly, a small tear starting to stream down her cheek from her right eye. "Ryand'r," she thought to herself.

"An intriguing proposition," said Zuus'ad. He looked to Starfire. "Do you truly agree to this Koriand'r?"

Starfire nodded her head. "I do. As much as I am angry at her for selling me to the Gordanians all those years ago, enough good has ended up unexpectedly coming out of that sale that I can almost forgive her for it. Furthermore, as she herself has admitted, she genuinely wishes that she'd refused Ph'yzzon's offer to subject me to the mind alteration he wished to subject me to and would have gladly preferred killing me in combat at the very most. The fact that she still wished to be kind enough to at the very most have me die an honorable death as myself, combined with everything that my brother has voiced, is enough to convince me that she is at least deserving of one final chance at changing her ways."

The rest of the room's occupants all looked to each other and started whispering. Except for the titans, who all found themselves nodding in respect, and Cometbolt, who had to fight with all his might not to do anything more than making a silent snarl in the direction of the three royal siblings.

"I see." Zuus'ad looked to three rulers seated behind him, Starfire, and Wildfire. "And what of you? Do you accept this proposition your excellencies?"

"I do," the three rulers said in unison.

"Then it is settled."

Zuus'ad turned to face Blackfire. "You are hereby sentenced to serve time at one of the penitence camps at New Alliance. For now, you shall be set to serve a minimum of three years. The timing, and whether or not you will receive any privileges or punishments to go with your sentencing shall be added on as time goes by depending on how you behave. Is that understood?"

Blackfire gulped, and then nodded her head. "Yes," she said just to be safe.

"Good."

Zuus'ad slammed the bottom end of his staff on the floor next to him. "Take her back to where she was! Her trial is over!"

Penryk and Gryff stepped forward, seized Blackfire by the shoulders, and marched her back to where they'd stood before she'd been called upon for her trial. As this happened, Blackfire thought quietly to herself about what had just happened, tears silently streaming down her cheeks as she realized just how much she'd hurt her brother. With these thoughts, she silently vowed that, for him at least, she would try her best to fulfil his wish to change for the better. For even if she still couldn't be a proper loving older sister to her own sister, then she could at least change for the sake of her baby brother. Or so she currently hoped.

Once Blackfire and her handlers had returned to their earlier post, all the other occupants of the room looked to Zuus'ad. Zuus'ad looked to the three rulers, who nodded their heads, their eyes narrowed in rage as they all directed hateful glares towards Cometbolt. This look was all Zuus'ad needed to see, and he directed his own gaze towards the disgraced former general. "As ordered, the second of the accused!"

Yarboth and Garzvohg dragged Cometbolt over, the white-haired Tamaranean growling and snarling as he thrashed and jerked around in his handlers' grip. From how furiously he was fighting, it was clear that the inhibitor collar around his neck was the only thing preventing him from either summoning his binary clones or burning the whole place down with his star bolts or eye beams.

Cometbolt was all but pushed over to the appropriate position for his trial, and the disgraced general turned his head and stuck his tongue out mockingly at the two Gordanian generals before turning his head to direct a furious glare towards Zuus'ad, Starfire, and the three rulers.

"General Ph'yzzon," Zuus'ad began. "Today you stand trial for terrible crimes against Tamaran. At this moment, you stand accused of high treason, extended absence without leave, the successful murder of Vrass'ad of Tamaran, the attempted murder of our honored guests and allies from Earth, consorting with the Umbrosians, attempted mental defilement of Princess Koriand'r. . ."

Cometbolt leaned forward, slamming his cuffed hands on the podium he was standing at and hissing spitefully. "I WAS TRYING TO SAVE HER," he roared. "SHE'D SPENT FIVE YEARS NOW, NEARLY SIX, STUCK ON THAT PLANET OF TROQS! YOU WERE ONLY GOING TO STAY ON TAMARAN AND DO NOTHING WHILE SHE CONTINUED TO THROW HER LIFE AWAY UNDER DELUSIONS OF JOY AND LOVE! IF YOU WEREN'T GOING TO SAVE HER, SOMEONE HAD TO!"

The titans all mentally face palmed. "He's definitely off to a good start," Raven thought to herself while rolling her eyes.

Zuus'ad raised his eyebrow. "Interrupting me like that will not earn you any points."

"Do I look like I care?!"

Cometbolt pointed at Zuus'ad. "Because you certainly didn't care!" He pointed at Galfore. "And neither did you!" He gestured at all the other Tamaraneans in the room. "Or any of you!"

"General Ph'yzzon," Zuus'ad said warningly.

Cometbolt glared back at him. "Don't even bother trying to ask me any further questions! This trial? It's a complete farce! All those 'crimes' you say I'm on trial for? Yes! I did them, and I have no regrets about them! And I shouldn't feel any regrets for them either! Any proud and honorable Tamaranean would have done them!"

He slammed his cuffed hands upon the podium once more. "All that's happened ever since the day the war ended five years ago? None of it unfolded the way it should have! Tamaran should have been unambiguously victorious! All of Gordania should have been lying dead at our feet! Kori should have been still on Tamaran with us and by my side! And even if none of that could have been done, then you definitely should have killed Komand'r the instant her responsibility for selling Kori was made public knowledge!"

He gritted his teeth, and moved his hands as if trying unsuccessfully to clench them into fists from within his cuffs. "But even if that was too much of an impossibility, I still should not have been the only one to care enough about Kori to actually try to find and rescue her! Let alone the only one to give a damn to continue doing that even after returning home of her own free will wasn't enough to cure of her Earth brainwashing and convince her to stay where she belongs!"

"And who are you to decide where she belongs?"

Galfore leaned forward, his eyes narrowed, and hands clenched around the armrests of his throne. "You're not the emperor! You are not her husband! And you are most definitely not Koriand'r herself!" He pointed at Starfire. "She is a strong, smart, and free woman! She can make her own decisions, and she knows how to follow both her mind _and_ her heart!"

Cometbolt scoffed, and rolled his eyes. "As if," he hissed. "Her heart has no idea what her true home is anymore, let alone what true happiness is." He pointed his cuffed hands towards the titans. "All the time she's spent on Earth under the thrall of their brainwashing sees to that. And if she and those troqs hadn't stopped me from fixing her," he pointed at Galfore, "or you and the rest of our kind had so much as lifted a finger to help her, she'd have been already back to her true self by now; and most importantly, in love only with me, just as she should be!"

"Her true self is standing in front of you!"

Cometbolt and the rest of the room's occupants turned to look at Wildfire, who was now glaring at Cometbolt just as hatefully as everyone else. "The Starfire currently standing here with us is the same one all of us have known and loved. She has not been brainwashed. She has truly found a home and love. In fact, I daresay she's even happier now because of it then she was throughout all her time here on Tamaran. You just refuse to accept that she's found all this without any involvement from you!"

Cometbolt snarled. "Please. What would you know? You're still just a naïve child, and you've been separated from her for five years. You only see her as the happy person you knew her as because that's what you want to see!"

"That's enough!" Galfore slammed his right fist on the right armrest of his throne. "Don't you realize who you are talking to?!"

Cometbolt rolled his eyes. "Yes. A naïve, dumb, and young prince who's spent too much time apart from his sister to realize how much she's no longer truly herself anymore!"

"X'hal damn it Ph'yzzon," Galfore growled. He pointed at Wildfire. "Don't you remember how much he looked up to you before the war? Even before you got drafted into being a soldier, you were his hero!"

"Well I'm sorry that I have to hurt his precious little feelings," Cometbolt hissed, not sounding at all sorry. He jabbed his hands towards Galfore. "But newsflash! Life's just unfair like that! Sometimes you have to take a cold, hard, and bitter truth when all the stuff that's warm, soft, and sweet are nothing but lies!"

"You'd do well to take that same advice to heart for yourself," Greerak hissed back.

"Shut up lizard," Cometbolt snarled. "If I'd had my way, you and your entire species would have already been extinct by now! By X'hal, I would have gladly smashed you to death while you were still an egg!"

"That's enough Ph'yzzon!"

All the room's occupants looked to Starfire, who now had her eyes glowing. "I will not allow you to continue talking trash about my family and friends!"

"Why? They don't care about you! If they did, they would have helped me fix you back to the way you were before you were sold! Before the war even! And you wouldn't be as hopelessly brainwashed into believing your happy with wasting away on Earth with those troqs as you currently are!"

Cometbolt leaned forward, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the girl he'd been so certain returned his love five years prior. "Because there is no other way you could possibly believe yourself to be happy with such unworthy company as those insects! Or reduce yourself so low as to fool yourself into believing you actually _love_ one of them in that kind of way! They are nothing! They mean nothing! Especially not to a proper Tamaranean like you! Let alone in comparison to a true honorable and noble Tamaranean warrior such as myself!"

He lifted his head, eyes still narrowed, and mouth still etched in a firm frown. "I don't care what is said here, or what it takes after this farce of a trial is over! I _will_ save you! I _will_ fix you! I _will_ get the real you back where it belongs! Here on Tamaran! With me! Nowhere else! With no one else! I don't care if I have to raid another Psion lab to get ahold of replacements for that technology you destroyed! I _will_ get you back!"

He turned his head to direct a hateful glare at Blackfire. "And I will _definitely_ do it without any help from that monster you and your idiot brother call sister! I may have been willing to work with her before today! But now that I know that she's the heartless beast who sold you to the Gordanians in the first place and made it possible for you to get to Earth where those troqs could successfully sway you into thinking the wrong way, I will have no qualms about cutting ties with her, not to mention going straight to New Alliance after I escape from whatever prison you put me in and giving her the vile, savage, and inhumane execution that you and the rest of our kind should have already given to her years ago!"

After what felt like an eternity of silence following this statement, Zuus'ad finally deemed it safe to talk. "Are you quite finished?"

Cometbolt turned his head to face Zuus'ad, his eyes rolling dismissively. "Why do you even bother to ask?"

"Because before any sentencing is granted, I wish to make sure I allow you the chance to answer for _all_ your crimes."

"Well I've done that. So get on with it!"

"On the contrary, there was one more crime that you are currently still suspected of committing that I was about to mention before you interrupted me earlier."

"Oh really? What would that be?"

Zuus'ad looked at the three rulers, who nodded their heads and directed their own gaze at Cometbolt.

"Five years ago," Galfore began. "A month before the war began, did you poison a wellspring in Gordania?"

Cometbolt raised his eyebrow. "And what, may I ask, makes you ask such a question?"

"Captain Karras tells me that you implied potentially having done so while he and Koriand'r's friends were working to save her from your clutches. This implication is something that Koriand'r herself has also attested to hearing you give. Now I repeat, did you poison a wellspring in Gordania on that date?"

Cometbolt snarled. "Well than I shall answer, your _excellency_ , that yes, I did!"

The occupants all started whispering to each other rapidly upon hearing this. Greerak narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward towards Cometbolt. "Answer me this," he hissed. "Did you see any of my kin drink from that spring you poisoned?"

"As a matter of fact I did scum." Cometbolt looked directly at the young Gordanian king, a small smirk on his face. "Some lowly female came walking over and took a nice long, long, _long_ drink from it. The slimy fool was as good as dead the instant she took the first sip from that spring."

Greerak gritted his teeth, clenching his hands tightly around the armrests of his makeshift throne. "Her fins and wings," he growled. "Did they happen to be dark purple instead of light green?"

"If it's really that big of a deal to you, then yes. She did. Very beautiful looking I might add . . . for a Gordanian. In fact, if it weren't for how I chose to be smart and get off your stinking planet as quickly as possible once she'd left the area, I would have gladly waited until she'd died so I could cut off one of her fins or wings to use as a trophy!"

"Did she also," Greerak snarled, now clearly struggling to keep it together and avoid exploding in anger, yet at the same time also seeming as if he were also on the verge of tears, "happen to be wearing a necklace of green and gray stones around her neck?"

"What difference does it make if she did?"

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"WELL FINE THEN! YES, SHE DID, YOU LITTLE CLORBAG! HAPPY NOW?!"

At that point, Greerak hissed savagely, his teeth gritted, finger claws digging deep into the armrests of his makeshift throne, and his narrowed eyes half blazing in anger and half seconds away from bursting into tears. At this point, his grandfather, Lord Valdroth, had his own eyes widened in shock and horror as he too realized the significance of what Cometbolt had just admitted.

At that point, Hanrac decided that he'd be wise to ask the last question before Greerak flew off the handle. "You do remember the accusation the Gordanians made against your kind over the course of declaring war against Tamaran, right?"

"Have you no brain?! Of course I do! Some stupid nonsense about us killing their precious queen! What does that have to do with that lowly female I poisoned?!"

"It has everything to do with the one you poisoned."

Cometbolt and the rest of the room's occupants turned their heads in time to see Valdroth rising from his seat and turning his head to face Cometbolt directly. "That 'lowly female' that you poisoned? That was my daughter." He pointed at Greerak. " _His_ mother."

The eyes of all the other Gordanians widened as they all finally remembered that their late queen had indeed had the exact distinctive features that had just been brought up. All the Tamaraneans, Blackfire included, similarly found their eyes widening as they realized the significance of what had just been revealed, as did all the Thanagarians and Starfire's fellow titans. But none of their reactions could compare to the look of pure stunned horror that had now come onto Cometbolt's face. It seemed to take an entire hour before the white-haired Tamaranean was finally able to speak once more. "You . . . you're saying?"

"Yes," Greerak hissed. He closed his eyes and grumbled as he fought with all his might to avoid breaking down into tears right there in the throne room in front of everyone. "The same . . . war . . . that . . . Komand'r . . . ended by . . . selling . . . Koriand'r . . . to my . . . kin . . . was one . . . that . . . you . . . yourself . . . caused!"

Silence hung in the air for a couple minutes. Then Cometbolt finally managed to regain his voice. "I'll admit, that is a sobering thing to learn." Then he glared, his earlier arrogance returning to him. "But I'll say this now, if I had known that information at the time, I still would have done it! If only because she was a Gordanian, and all you Gordanians deserve to die like the scum that you are!"

The Gordanians were all fit to burst, but Galfore slammed his fist and called for order. The occupants all remained seated upon receiving this call, but with clear reluctance.

Zuus'ad decided that now was the time to resume the trial before things got out of hand. "You truly wish now to receive your verdict?"

"Yes," Cometbolt spat.

"You have no wish to say anything more in your defense?"

"No."

"You have no regrets about any of it?"

"I shouldn't have to feel any regret for making an effort to prevent our kind from ever having to suffer attacks from those lowly worms! And I especially shouldn't have to regret going so far as to even _try_ to save Koriand'r and put her back to the way she was, not to mention is supposed to be like!" He slammed his cuffed hands on the judgment podium once more. "Go ahead and give me your verdict! I'll take it! And since you're obviously not going to give me a death penalty if you were willing to accept the offer to let Komand'r get off lightly after all she's done, I'll gladly finish what I started once I get free from wherever you send me!"

Starfire narrowed her eyes, and looked all three of the rulers directly in the eyes. A silent message passed between her, Galfore, Greerak, and Hanrac. They had all discussed likely fates to subject him to depending on the outcome of his trial, and it was now very clear exactly which one he deserved. They all looked at Cometbolt.

"We have all carefully weighed your actions," Starfire began. "And we have equally carefully measured your potential guilt and regret. But in the end, we find you guilty of all the crimes you now stand accused of."

Cometbolt snarled.

"And as punishment for your crimes, we hereby sentence you. . ."

Cometbolt tensed himself up, and all the other occupants in the room leaned forward in anticipation for whatever punishment would be announced.

"To be given a golden crown, that we shall all tremble to behold."

The titans all raised their eyebrows in confusion. Why on Earth would they reward Cometbolt with rulership of a kingdom as 'punishment' for his crimes?

Cometbolt was stunned, his eyes widened, and mouth gaping open. But then an arrogant grin came on his face. It was clear he'd jumped to the exact same conclusion as Starfire's titan friends.

"Well I certainly don't see how that's punishment. Making me a king; especially considering who that implies will be my queen." He directed a condescending smirk of arrogance Greerak's way, then directed it towards the rest of the Gordanians, then to the Thanagarians, then to Blackfire, then the other Tamaraneans, and then to the titans. It was clear that he believed himself to have won.

But Starfire, the three rulers, and all their assembled people kept their original stone faced glares, if not outright smirks of smug satisfaction. For they all knew something that the four Earthlings didn't, and that Cometbolt himself appeared to have quite forgotten. The crowns worn by the rulers of Tamaran were always made out of silver, not gold. The Tamaraneans had only one type of occasion in which they'd grant someone a golden crown; and it was not something that those given such a crown would enjoy in the slightest.

Greerak and Hanrac got up from their makeshift thrones and stepped forward until the young Gordanian ruler was directly to Starfire's right and the middle aged Thanagarian lord was standing directly to Starfire's left and in front of Wildfire.

As the five royals continued to glare at him, and the rest of the room's occupants watched in either anticipation or curiosity, Cometbolt extended his cuffed hands forward, smug grin still on his face as he clearly expected for them to call someone over to unlock his restraints. Greerak hung his head, and Starfire turned to face him, her face momentarily taking on a look of concern as she placed her hand on the young Gordanian king's shoulder as if trying to comfort him. This gesture caused Cometbolt to raise his eyebrow.

Greerak nodded his head, and Starfire removed her hand from his shoulder. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Garzvohg," he hissed, his voice low and hollow. "Yarboth." He lifted his head, eyes now closed. "Agujara."

The two Gordanian generals stepped over to Cometbolt's position, Yarboth drawing out what looked like a key. Cometbolt smiled . . . only to frown in confusion when Yarboth placed the apparent key upon the connecting strip between his handcuffs instead of the key hole of either of the two cuffs themselves while Garzvohg grabbed him by the left arm. He had only seconds to be confused by this before the connecting strip was undone, at which point Yarboth grabbed him by the right arm and yanked it forcibly backwards hard enough to break it.

Cometbolt screamed in pain as his arm was broken. The two generals began to drag him backwards. "No!" he yelled. "No!" They continued to drag him away while the royals and the rest of the occupants watched.

"You cannot touch me! I am the king! I AM A KING! I WANT MY CROWN! AND I WANT MY QUEEN!"

Garzvohg kicked him in the back of his left leg. Hard enough to break it. Cometbolt howled in agony as he collapsed to his knees, Yarboth and Garzvohg just barely keeping their grip on his arms. He howled again as Hanrac unclipped a belt of golden medallions from around his waist and handed it to Greerak. The young Gordanian stepped forward, the belt in his hand.

"Khaleeshrahreh!"

As he yelled this, Greerak walked right past his two generals and Cometbolt. Cometbolt shrieked in pain as his two handlers jerked his body upward. In the back of the room, a pair of Thanagarians lifted a cauldron of water they'd been attending to and emptied it onto the floor, placing it back down in time for two nearby Gordanian guards to blast the logs underneath with their tridents. A large bonfire of green flames erupted underneath the cauldron as the guards kept firing the beams from their tridents. Greerak came to a stop at the pot's position, threw the belt of golden medallions into it, and leaned his head over the pot to watch.

It was at this moment that the exact nature of what was happening finally dawned on Cometbolt, and he turned his head to gape at Starfire, his green eyes widened in horror and all traces of arrogance gone from his face.

Hanrac directed a side glance behind him towards Wildfire, and he placed his hand against the boy's stomach. "Look away Wildfire," the Thanagarian ruler requested, knowing that what was about to unfold was not something that Wildfire would entirely be comfortable watching, let alone watching happen to a man he'd idolized as a hero.

"No," said Wildfire. The Tamaranean prince shook his head. "I will watch. I'm 15 now. I can handle it. That man? He's not my hero. My hero died when my sister was sold. This monster that's taken his place? It's high time he joined him."

The titans, meanwhile, were similarly surprised as they also finally realized what was going on. "Dang," Cyborg thought to himself. "This just became Game of Thrones all of a sudden!"

Cometbolt stared in terror at Starfire. "You . . . you can't be serious!"

Starfire raised her eyebrow, her green eyes blazing with hatred. Cometbolt's heart sank. Much like all Tamaraneans, he was a master at reading emotions, and he could tell that what she was now currently feeling was genuine. "You . . . you are serious." He directed his gaze towards the boiling cauldron, his face still white with horror as Greerak continued to watch and the sound of rapid bubbling and hissing steam rose from the cauldron. The golden medallions inside were clearly melting, and at a remarkably fast pace thanks to the flames created by the Gordanian guards' tridents.

Cometbolt turned his head to face Starfire once more, sweating with terror. "Kori," he said, his voice quiet with fear. "Kori tell them." He looked back at the cauldron, then back at Starfire. "Make them!"

Greerak continued to watch the interior of the cauldron, the medallions inside rapidly melting into molten yellow lava.

"You don't have to do this," Cometbolt begged, now desperate to get the imminent execution called off. "Kori stop this! Please stop this! Call it off! I'll do anything!"

Starfire and Wildfire only glared at him, eyes glowing with hatred and malice. Galfore and Hanrac snarled at him.

"I'll accept a term at one of the New Alliance work camps! Or even one of their death camps! Please! Don't do this!"

Blackfire sighed, and rolled her eyes at the cowardice her ex-partner was showing. "Ph'yzzon," she thought to herself wearily. "You of all people should know that it's better to face death with dignity then to go out begging for your life like a coward."

Little did she know that this very same hypocritical irony to what he'd earlier thought about her own pre-verdict behavior was not lost on him, and he mentally cursed himself for acting like a coward.

"I'll let your friends live!" he yelled, now even more desperate then ever, and finally bitterly accepting the truth he'd now spent so much time fighting to deny and forcibly turn false. "I'll let you stay as you are! I accept it now! You were right! I was wrong! I admit it Kori! You were right! Just please! Please don't do this!"

All the room's occupants rolled their eyes in disgust. The four Earthlings even made dismissive gestures towards him while turning their eyes away from him. Greerak similarly rolled his eyes as he continued to watch the boiling and bubbling molten gold.

Once the mixture finally reached just the right temperature, Greerak grabbed the cauldron's handles and lifted it from the fire. "Make them," Cometbolt whimpered pitifully as Greerak started making his way back to where Starfire, Wildfire, and his two fellow rulers were waiting.

At the sound of footsteps and boiling liquid to his right, Cometbolt turned his head, and blanched with horror at the sight of Greerak walking right past him with the cauldron of molten gold. "No you can't!" he roared, panicking now.

Greerak turned his head to face the panicking Cometbolt, hissing in disgust as he did so. Greerak continued walking towards Galfore and Starfire. "Just . . . please," Cometbolt whimpered, his voice now a shrill whisper. "KORI PLEASE!" he roared, his voice losing its earlier shrillness as he tried one last desperate time to convince his former love to spare him.

Starfire only continued to glare at him, hatred still blazing in her eyes. It was clear she was not going to do a thing to stop the execution that was about to be made. The rest of the room's occupants similarly glared at him. Even the four Earthlings in the room merely directed hateful glares of their own. As much as a small part of them was aware of how they'd normally never advocate for something like this, their more reasonable sides drowned it out. For as much as they and Starfire usually went against killing anyone, they dared not try to stop this current execution for fear of causing an intergalactic incident.

Greerak came to a stop near the three Tamaranean royals, handing the cauldron to Galfore in the process. The hulking Tamaranean emperor grabbed onto the cauldron, rose from his throne, and walked resolutely over to where Cometbolt was being held.

Galfore came to a stop directly in front of Cometbolt, and the boy lifted his head, getting a good look at Galfore's face in the process. His heart only sank further at the sight of the look in Galfore's eyes. These were the eyes of a father whose children had been wronged, and now wished nothing more than to defend his daughter from a lesser man who dared to threaten her.

Galfore took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily, his face illuminated with the golden light of the boiling molten gold inside the cauldron in his hands. "A crown for a king."

Galfore began to lift the cauldron, gradually tipping it over in the process. Cometbolt had just enough to quiver in panic and hurriedly stammer 'no' before Galfore got the cauldron to the same level as his face and tipped it over sufficiently enough for the molten gold to start pouring out onto Cometbolt's head.

Cometbolt's cowardly whimpering instantly morphed into a keening howl as the molten gold encapsulated the upper part of his head and cooked his brain. Galfore emptied the entire cauldron, then lowered it and got on his knees to stare the dying Cometbolt in the face. Cometbolt's dying howl very abruptly cut off as the molten gold finished its work.

Galfore and the two Gordanian generals waited a few seconds. Then Yarboth placed his finger against Cometbolt's neck to feel for a pulse. He smiled. "No pulse," he hissed smugly, and nodded his head. "He's dead."

Garzvohg chuckled. "Good riddance to him to."

Galfore nodded wordlessly, rose back to his feet, and walked back to his throne. Garzvohg and Yarboth let go of Cometbolt's arms the instant Galfore's back was turned, and the dead former Tamaranean general fell gracelessly to the floor on his face, the now rapidly hardening gold on his head making a slight clanking noise against the floor.

Galfore returned to his throne, and Zuus'ad bowed his head. "Your excellency, will that be all?"

"Remove Ph'yzzon's body from here. But there is still one more thing that must be done before we adjourn this meeting."

Greerak clapped his hands, and Garzvohg and Yarboth removed Cometbolt's body from the throne room, grabbing it by the feet and dragging it across the floor in an act of spite.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! I certainly hope you all read and enjoyed this new chapter! I especially hope that you are happy and ok with what has ultimately ended up happening to Blackfire and Cometbolt. And if you are not, then I hope that you and I can still at least be respectful of each others' opinions. Furthermore, I'd just like to say a thing or two now about Cometbolt. As much as I think I did an at least somewhat passable job with him, another part of me honestly feels that I very likely could have done a much better job with him then I ultimately did. Nevertheless, at least now he's dead and gone and I can finally wipe my hands of him, regardless of how well I did or didn't do with handling and writing him. And hey, for any readers who didn't really care about him all that much, well then looky here! It would appear that, at the time of his death, neither do the characters in this story anymore! So there. But enough of that, like I said, I hope that (regardless of your personal thoughts on the fates to befall Blackfire and Cometbolt, opinions on Cometbolt in general, or any other positive or negative opinions you may have on this chapter) you all enjoyed what I had to offer and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, this chapter requires an exact minimum of 2 reviews before I allow the epilogue to be posted). Once again, hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Coming up next: With justice now served upon Blackfire and Cometbolt, Wildfire comes to the podium to answer some final unanswered questions about a couple of important matters. And with these questions answered and a few other minor lingering loose ends likewise tied up, the story comes to an end.**


	19. Epilogue

**Hey everyone! I hope you all had a happy Halloween and are looking forward to Thanksgiving (unless you have the same opinion of it as Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In which case, I'll respect your opinion). All that in mind, here's the epilogue for Black Star. And quite honestly, I'll admit that, much like this entire story at this point (considering my epic failure at everything involving Cometbolt/Ph'yzzon), this epilogue isn't perfect. But you know what? Is anything perfect? All in all, in a way, this story is something I can consider a learning experience on how to improve for when I hopefully move onto bigger and better stories after this one. All in all, I hope that you all at least found even a tiny level of enjoyment in this story despite its admittedly not quite as high quality in comparison to some of my other stories, that you leave plenty of feedback, and that you are able to look forward to the stories to come following this story. That being said, in this epilogue, now that Blackfire and Cometbolt have had judgment passed upon them, Wildfire is called up to answer some unanswered questions. And once these questions are answered and other loose ends are similarly tied up, it's time for the Titans to return home and for this story to come to an end.**

 **A/N: Once again, I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. Having said that, onward with the fic!**

 **Epilogue:**

When the body had been removed, and the two generals had returned, all the occupants looked Wildfire's direction. The young prince nodded his head. "Yes, I promised that I would explain where I have been all this time." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and directed his gaze towards Galfore and Starfire. "As you are all aware, I was not present on Tamaran for the last Tamaran-Gordania war. In fact, I had disappeared from Tamaran not too long before the actual conflict began. Everyone on Tamaran. . ."

He hung his head. "Including, sadly, my parents, mostly believed that I'd been either captured or killed by the Gordanians." He lifted his head. "However, the truth was that, in the days leading up to the conflict, Galfore sent me into hiding on the planet Euphorix, where I spent the entirety of the conflict. King Primus and Queen Kalista were especially kind towards me, as was everyone else there. They even allowed me to receive combat training from their friend Tigorr of Karna whenever he and his team, the Omega Men, dropped by to visit.

"However, things changed when news of the war's outcome reached Euphorix. I was, naturally, concerned for Koriand'r's wellbeing. Upon learning all the necessary details, my first priority was to ask for the Omega Men to go after the Gordanians and save my sister. However, by that point, Tigorr and his allies had long departed Euphorix to take care of some business in another system where it would have taken weeks at best for a message from Euphorix to reach them. In the end, I got desperate, and stowed away on a supply ship that just happened to be travelling to the same system that the Omega Men had travelled to so that I could find them and ask for their help myself." He looked at Galfore, a guilty look on his face. "It was about a week after my unannounced departure from Euphorix that you arrived to visit and check up on me following the grieving period for my parents' deaths. For that, I apologize."

He took a deep breath, and then continued his explanation. "When I finally reached the Omega Men and informed them of the matter, we made straight for the Citadel home planet, as enough time had passed to realistically allow the Gordanians time to make it there and sell Starfire to them. While we did manage to cause quite a ruckus there and rescue many of the more palatable captives within the colosseum, it reached our knowledge during our time on there that not only was Koriand'r not there, but she'd in fact never made it to that planet.

"We then traveled to the outskirts of the planet that we'd learned was where Koriand'r had managed to escape to during her transport. But when I secretly came down to Earth to search for her, I discovered that she appeared to be quite happy, safe, and at home already. Upon learning this news, I decided that, as much as I missed her, the right thing to do would be to leave her where she was and let her be happy. So I returned to where the Omega Men were waiting for me, and we left to go back to Euphorix. However, it was while we were on our way back that Tigorr and his allies decided that, on account of the worthy traits I'd demonstrated in my efforts to save Koriand'r, perhaps I could join them as the newest member. I accepted after a moment's thought, and Primus and Kalista similarly agreed once we adequately discussed the matter upon our arriving back at Euphorix."

He hung his head. "But when the time came to decide whether or not to let Galfore or anyone else on Tamaran know about my whereabouts and current decision to join the Omega Men, I must admit, my more selfish side came into the play. I had always been kept overly protected on Tamaran because of my young age and being the logical choice of heir if something bad were to happen to my sisters. On Euphorix, however, I felt as if I had more freedom then I'd ever had on Tamaran; and part of me feared that allowing Galfore to know about where I'd been and how I'd now joined the Omega Men would only cause me to be forced to back down on that decision and rob me of all the freedom I'd had in the time following my departure from Tamaran. And I didn't want that. But instead of trying to talk about it with Galfore like a mature adult, I childishly chose to be selfish about it and force everyone from my home world to worry about whether I was even alive; and that is something I still regret even now.

"What makes things worse? Three years ago, after hearing of Starfire's almost wedding, I honestly felt regretful enough about my decision that I was tempted to go back on it. But at the same time, I felt so afraid of what Galfore would say and how disappointed he and so many others would feel about my selfishness if I confessed to it that I chose to continue keeping myself out of their lives. It wasn't until news reached my ears of Blackfire's joining up with the Umbrosians that I started to get an idea of something I could do to make things right."

He gestured over to Hanrac and the rest of the Thanagarians in the room. "I chose to go to Thanagar and form an alliance with them. This was partly out of logical reasoning on account of their strong military. However, there was also a thematic appropriateness to the idea. For it turns out, they were allied with Tamaran once before, right alongside the Gordanians."

At the sight of the stunned faces on the Tamaraneans and Gordanians, Wildfire nodded. "Yes, you heard me, and I speak the truth. How I know this?" He gestured towards Hanrac. "Unlike both my kind and the Gordanians, the Thanagarians were able to keep the entire intact story of this alliance and the previous invasion effort by the Umbrosians within their annals; and upon learning the full story and making the right connections between that time and now, I realized that the best way to truly defeat the Umbrosians would be to do things almost exactly the way they were done the last time."

"And how _was_ it done the last time?" Galfore asked.

"Yes, how?" Greerak asked in agreement.

Wildfire took a deep breath. "As all three of our races' annals state, it was the efforts of Nightfire and Dayfire themselves that got the Umbrosians and Phosphorians involved. However, one thing that only the Thanagarian annals appear to keep intact about the story is just how and when the Gordanians and Thanagarians got involved. Similarly, the annals of Tamaran and Gordania keep vague the details of just how the Umbrosians were defeated, let alone how they and the Phosphorians were ultimately expelled from the combat alongside their respective gods. But while both my kin and the Gordanians have ultimately ended up forced to conclude a freak eclipse to be responsible for Dayfire's victory, the true hero of this equation was a very corporeal and deliberate being. For as few seem to remember or consider all that important in the grand scheme of things, there were _three_ royal children of Tamaran during those times, not just two."

Starfire and Blackfire's eyes widened. Now that Wildfire had mentioned it, they remembered that detail very well. "Their younger sister," said Starfire.

"Yes Starfire," said Wildfire. "It was the young princess Dawnfire who ultimately saved the universe from being torn apart or cast into eternal light or darkness by the conflict between her two brothers. She knew how badly things would end for the world regardless of which side had a direct victory. She also believed that, if our kind were to have any chance at truly making a stand against Nightfire and the Umbrosians, we'd need more than just the Phosphorians on our side as allies. Her brother and the rest of our kind refused back then, as their pride was too strong to accept the idea that they'd be weak enough to need any allies apart from the logical choice of the Umbrosians' natural enemies.

"In the end, after her brother and the Tamaranean army had left Tamaran to fight Nightfire and the Umbrosians, she sneaked out of the palace, stole a ship, and left Tamaran under the cover of darkness to travel to the planets of the two races that she believed would be the best allies our kind could ever ask for if given the chance, the Gordanians, and the Thanagarians. And not only did both races agree to the alliance after initial reluctance, but the Thanagarians also helped her gain awareness and power over a powerful ability that would grant any who wielded it a significant edge over the Entities. This power? The ability to wield the light of the dawn."

He lifted his hands, gazing at them as if in remembrance. "The thing about such a power is how dawn, much like dusk or twilight, is a time where neither light nor darkness or in higher abundance. Therefore, those who wield the power of its light are both capable of harming beings of pure light and darkness and immune to attacks of such a nature. This, naturally, provided exactly the kind of balanced solution that Dawnfire desired, and so she accepted the opportunity to wield it."

He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "With her new power at the ready, she came to the battlefield accompanied by the Gordanian and Thanagarian forces just in time to find her people fighting alongside the Phosphorians in heavy conflict against the Umbrosians while both of her brothers were similarly battling each other while possessed by the Entities. From there, the Gordanians and Thanagarians joined in and allowed the Tamaraneans to keep the Umbrosians and Phosphorians busy long enough for her to intervene between the dueling Entities, use her power over the dawn to gradually weaken them, and then finally expel them from her brothers and back to their respective homes alongside their similarly expelled respective worshippers. A scenario that I have now repeated in her footsteps."

He lifted his head. "I need not mention how things unfolded immediately after this event."

The Tamaraneans, Gordanians, and Thanagarians all nodded their heads in agreement. They knew perfectly well how the immediate aftermath of this victory had been Nightfire's trial and execution, as well as the proper birth of what had obviously been the old alliance between Tamaran, Gordania, and apparently Thanagar as well.

The titans, however, had one question. "Wildfire," said Starfire. "Please, at least tell us this; do the Thanagarian records tell of how the old version of this very alliance came to an end?"

"As a matter of fact, they do. As you all are probably aware, this alliance lasted for many years after Nightfire's execution. In fact, by the time it ended, Dawnfire had died peacefully of old age, and the 3rd ruler to follow her had assumed the throne. However, the Tamaran-Gordania-Thanagar alliance also made efforts to ally themselves with multiple other planets and their people, and the one time they met a race that didn't accept their offer, the results ended up causing the original alliance itself to fall apart."

"What race was that?"

Wildfire looked straight at his 2nd eldest sister. "A race we all know far more well then we'd wish; the Vernathians." The sound of Tamaranean snarling, Gordanian hissing, and Thanagarian shrieking was all Wildfire and the titans needed to hear.

"Vernathia," Galfore grumbled, clenching his fists. "I might have known."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Cyborg.

"I take it you are familiar with their kind."

"We've met one," said Robin. "And trust me, that's far more then we'll ever want or need to meet."

"I'll take your word for it," said Wildfire. "Nevertheless, as all of us can probably guess, the Vernathians not only refused the offer, but were also rather rude about it; nor were they afraid to show it. They considered themselves racially superior to Tamaraneans for not being as reliant on emotions for use of their powers, considered themselves morally superior to the Thanagarians on the account they believed themselves to be less 'barbaric' compared to them, and outright dismissed the Gordanians as little more than dumb animals on account of how comparatively animalistic they looked.

"As you might expect, the three founding races had their own divergent ideas on what to do after they left this ill-fated meeting. The Tamaraneans were all stunned, and some of them were nearly in tears, but were largely still hopeful they could somehow make peace with the Vernathians and get them to accept the offer of friendship. The Gordanians were angry and insulted and wanted nothing more than to vent it against the Vernathians, and preferably in the most violent way possible. The Thanagarians, meanwhile, were indecisive and had no idea what to say for once. For this meeting with the Vernathians was the first time any beings had openly dared to refer to them as barbarians. In the end, the Thanagarians chose to sit on the matter, and the Tamaraneans chose to search for a peaceful and friendly resolution. The Gordanians, however, were too proud and angry to accept either of these options, and they secretly sent a contingent of Gordanian mercenaries to try to beat up and kill a group of Vernathian politicians as payback. As you can probably guess, this did not end well; and in the end, the Vernathians only chose not to press charges or declare outright war for the rather backhanded reason of believing that doing so would mean 'stooping to the alliance's level'."

Wildfire shook his head, sighing heavily. "Wiser leaders would have talked things out and made amends between each other and their people. The leaders of this particular generation, however, were too proud to admit their own faults in this situation and resorted to yelling at and blaming each other for the incident. In the end, they and their people chose to split apart and wipe their hands of each other, shattering the long-lasting alliance Dawnfire had worked so hard to make possible into a trio of feuding tribes once more. And while Tamaran and Thanagar were able to at least keep relations between them rather neutral compared to before the alliance, Gordania once more became the sworn enemies of both of their former allies."

Wildfire raised his head. "But now, after a repeat of the very events that allowed us all to ally together before, we have the opportunity to finally restore our kind's past alliance to its full capacity." He spread his hands. "For many years now we have been split apart by enmity and bitterness. But now we have united together once again in battle against the Umbrosians! But let us not allow our current partnership to end with the defeat of our enemies. Let us continue to be comrades outside of battle! For if we were to continue to allow our past failures and emotions to force us apart once more after all this, we would only be proving the Vernathians right!"

"And how could we be certain that this new alliance you are suggesting wouldn't end badly and fall apart the way the previous one did?" Valdroth nodded his head. "As has now been made clear, my kin were responsible for that. My grandson may be wiser and more reasonable then his father and Sombragor, but others amongst our kind, not to mention some of my grandson's successors, could yet prove not so trustworthy."

"Who's to say the Gordanians wouldn't end up causing this new alliance to fall apart?" Everyone looked to Karras, who nodded his head and pointed at Blackfire. "She has proven multiple times now at this point to be very duplicitous and untrustworthy. And even if she does reform after this 3rd chance we've given her, there could be others like her in the future who may yet cause enough trouble to end our alliance."

"My kind are equally at risk of such a possibility."

Hanrac nodded his head. "There are many on Thanagar who still haven't forgiven the Gordanians for the atrocities they've committed against us both in recent times and in ancient times. Take the twice reincarnated and thrice disgraced Hro Talak for example. In just the past Earth decade, he led an entire roque squadron of Thanagarian soldiers to try to commit a genocidal preemptive strike on Gordania through creating an unauthorized hyperspace bypass. He and his men may be in prison now, but Talak could yet escape; or others like him could yet try similar shenanigans."

As one, all the room's occupants looked to Wildfire. "All valid points," the young Tamaranean prince admitted. "But don't you see? The fact that we each have individuals amongst our kind that _could_ cause trouble for all of us doesn't mean that all of us are like that. And it could be all the easier for us to handle such narrowmindedness amongst our kind if we are all united together as friends to work things out and resolve matters peacefully. Let us be honest, all friendships are like this. There's always times where there are fights and disagreements between friends. But true friendships aren't about always being in harmony and never having discord between them, but about being able to work past those disputes and stay friends despite all the drama between them!"

At the sound of all this, the titans couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement, their eyes closed as they realized how genuine their own friendship was in how it matched the very description Wildfire had given.

"How are we to know that this alliance will be such a genuine friendship as the kind you've described?" Greerak asked.

The Tamaranean prince sighed. "The truth is, there is no way to know for certain." He lifted his head to face the young Gordanian king. "But it has been said that the worst failures come from never trying at all." He gestured at the entire room. "Look at us now. Together, all three of our races have accomplished so much! And my kind and yours were able to similarly work so well together before I brought the people of Thanagar into the mix! Even if a 2nd attempt at the old alliance in its full capacity were to fail in any way, surely such a failure couldn't be any worse then not even making any attempt at all and forever wondering how a 2nd attempt would have unfolded?"

The three rulers looked each other in the eyes, and all the others amongst their respective peoples started whispering to each other. The titans watched silently, half nervous and half in anticipation. Just how would things unfold now?

The three rulers reached their decision, turning their heads to face the assembled crowd. "Many crimes and atrocities have been committed against each other by our respective kin," said Galfore. "These crimes can never be forgotten, and many of them could very well never be forgiven."

"But all that said," Greerak broke in. "Maybe it is better that way. To forget those crimes, or any other part of our history? Zog knows how dangerous that would be. For as so many of my ancestors since the days of Sombragor were all too willing to deny, failure to learn from our history makes us doomed to repeat it. And how can anyone learn from their history if they don't know it, let alone if they are outright denied the full truth about it?"

"And as for forgiveness," Hanrac broke in. He sighed. "Regardless of whether it is possible or not, the simple truth is that the past, more often then not, is best left exactly that. In the past. To forever hold onto the past would only weigh us down and hold us back. To truly make progress in our lives, we must have the ability to let go of the past and move onward to the future."

The three rulers nodded their heads. "We have reached a decision," said Galfore, "and it is unanimous."

"On behalf of all of us," said Greerak.

"And with X'hal, Y'grath, and Zog as our witnesses," said Hanrac.

"We say yes to Prince Ryand'r's proposition," they all said in unison.

. . . . .

The titans stood within one of the main corridors of the Tamaranean royal palace. An hour had passed since the end of the trials and meeting, and they were still half bewildered, and half pleased with what had transpired. With all three rulers having agreed to Wildfire's idea, they had all gotten straight to the necessary work. As of this moment, the titans were still waiting for news on just how things had unfolded in that regard, as they had been dismissed from the throne room.

"Well," said Beast Boy. "We've sure had one hell of a week, haven't we?"

"That's one way to put it," said Raven.

"Don't know about all ya'll," said Cyborg. "But I'm definitely looking forward to returning home once all this business is over."

"You and me both."

Robin turned his head to look back in the direction of the throne room, and then back at his friends. "They're certainly taking their time."

"What did you expect?" said Cyborg. "It's politics."

"Fair enough," Robin admitted.

At the sound of footsteps, the titans turned their heads in time to see none other than Galfore and Wildfire walking towards them. At the sight of them about to stand at attention, Galfore extended his hand towards them in a 'halt' gesture. "At ease."

The titans relaxed. "What happened?"

"Things have gone the well," said Wildfire. "Surprisingly enough, everyone amongst those gathered appear willing to give my suggestion a chance. That being said, we've already begun work on several important tasks. The necessary documents for our alliance have been signed and validated, Blackfire's already been sent on her way to New Alliance, and everyone will soon be parting ways to return to their home worlds for now to rest and recover from everything that's happened. In fact, I myself shall soon very likely need to briefly go to Thanagar alongside the Thanagarian army. The Omega Men were staying there to keep Thanagar safe while the native army was busy, and they might very well need help from me and the Thanagarian leadership soon. Apparently, that rainbow razer you told me about ended up having to be driven off from Thanagar by the Omega Men and the Thanagarian populace wish to have an explanation for its sudden appearance in the planet's vicinity."

"After that?"

Wildfire raised his eyebrow at his sister, and then thought to himself. "To be the honest, I still don't know the for certain myself. Though I will say it is entirely likely that I will spend a good few years continuing to work as a member of the Omega Men. The Vega System may be free of the Citadel, but it will still likely be years before a Green Lantern ever gets assigned to it. And as long as the Omega Men thus remain necessary, I shall continue to work alongside them."

"Would doing so allow you time to visit?"

"My work with the Omega Men will certainly keep me busy," the Tamaranean prince admitted. "However, depending on how things unfold in the future, I may yet get the opportunity to take time off to visit at least once. I can only hope that this will be enough."

He thought to himself some more. "I suppose it would also be wise to consider visiting Tamaran again every now and then if I get the chance."

"Will that be all you will do?"

Wildfire sighed. "I wish I could say whether that will be the case Kori. It's been so long since I was here, so much has changed, and I'm so busy now working with the Omega Men. I don't know if I could ever settle down anywhere, let alone back here on Tamaran." He hung his head. "But I'll say this. Maybe someday, I will come back here and at least partially settle down. I don't think I'll stop working as an Omega Man. But regardless, maybe, just maybe, I will potentially allow myself to serve as heir to Tamaran." He lifted his head, a hopeful smile on his face. "X'hal knows this planet will need one once Galfore's time comes to join all the other virtuous Tamaraneans in M'ngwarl under the embrace of X'hal."

Galfore placed his hand on Wildfire's shoulder. "I am happy to hear that Ryand'r. More than I can say." He nodded his head. "I know that I cannot bring back your birth parents; and if I could go back and change the events that led to you being gone from Tamaran for so long, I would gladly do so. But know this, regardless of what you do, I will wait as long as necessary for you whenever you are gone with the Omega Men or anywhere else while I'm still alive."

Wildfire nodded. "That's all I need to ask of you K'norfka."

Starfire giggled and smiled, but Robin and the other Earthlings looked each other awkwardly in the eyes, wondering if perhaps they should leave the area. Then they turned and quietly started to walk away.

"Not so fast."

The titans paused, and turned their heads in time to see Galfore and Wildfire looking their way. "You cannot leave without Starfire," said Wildfire.

"Indeed," Galfore agreed. "Not to mention, there is something important that you specifically must be told, Robin."

The look in Galfore's eyes when he said this was enough to make Robin gulp, now feeling like he were two feet tall. The other titans looked at their leader, noting his current reaction and deciding it would be best they help Robin never forget whatever it was that Galfore was about to tell him. Starfire winced, and looked at Galfore and Wildfire, her face silently asking, 'is this really necessary?'

The Tamaranean emperor pointed his finger at the Boy Wonder. "I may not be her father by blood, but I might as well be her real father after how much I've cared and done for her when she was but a child." His eyes narrowed. "By time honored universal tradition, I will tell you this now. As her consort, you must treat her with the utmost respect, care, and kindness that she deserves. You fail to do this, and _especially_ if you break her heart." He clenched his fist. "Then by X'hal, I will make sure that you die before you even have the chance to regret doing so."

Robin gulped once more, and then nodded his head. "I understand . . . sir."

"Good."

He patted Robin once on the shoulder, and then stepped back. Wildfire stepped forward, his own face sporting a similarly serious look. He pointed at Robin. "It may be tradition for the elder sibling to be the protective one," he began. "But since Komand'r is hardly in any position or hurry to take on the role, I shall substitute for her." He leaned his head directly into Robin's face, eyes narrowed and on the verge of glowing. "If by some impossible miracle, you are still alive once my K'norfka is finished with you in the event you break Kori's heart, make no mistake. I _will_ finish the job."

Robin gulped once more. "Noted."

"Splendid."

"Glad to hear that."

The four Earthlings and two Tamaraneans turned their heads in time to see Greerak standing nearby. The young Gordanian king nodded his head. "It has been an honor to fight alongside you all, and to be your friend. But now, with the universe and all our planets safe, it is time for us to part ways."

He stepped forward, extending his right hand towards Robin. "It has been a great pleasure to fight alongside you Warbird."

Robin grasped Greerak's extended hand, giving it a firm handshake. "Pleasure's all mine. Farewell your Majesty."

Greerak chuckled, his orange eyes agleam. "Farewell to you Warbird."

He looked to Starfire, smile still on his face, and then offered her his other hand, which she shook with both of her own. "It has similarly been an honor to be your friend, Princess Koriand'r. I could not have asked for a better ally and friend."

Starfire giggled. "I'm glad to hear that friend. Farewell."

Greerak chuckled. "Farewell to you to."

He faced the other three titans in the area, nodding his head with a smile. "And farewell to the rest of you. I hope we shall someday each other again, titans." He let go of Robin and Starfire's hands, gave one last respectful farewell salute to Galfore and Wildfire, and then turned and walked back the way he'd come.

Galfore nodded his head. "I suppose it is now time we also parted ways soon." He looked back to Robin. "Stay as long as you need to prepare for your departure. But once you are all ready to return home, it would be wise that you do exactly that. There are many things Tamaran will need to do over the next few weeks now that the old alliance has been fully restored and the universe is safe once more from the Umbrosians. And no offense, but I do believe that you and your fellow Earthlings have done everything you can to help us."

"We understand," said Robin. "As soon as we are ready to return to Earth, we will go."

Galfore nodded, and so did Wildfire. "Farewell titans."

"I couldn't have been happier to finally see you again sister. Farewell."

Galfore and Wildfire departed, leaving the four earthlings where they stood.

Robin turned his head to face his fellow titans. "You heard Galfore. Shall we?"

Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg nodded, and the four Earthlings began walking in the direction of where the T-ship was parked. Then Robin noticed that Starfire wasn't following them, and he stopped walking in time to look back to find her still standing where she'd been. He raised his eyebrow at the sight of this. "Um guys." The other three titans paused and turned their heads. "On second thought, could you go ahead and get the ship ready without me? I think I'm gonna need to talk to Star for a little bit."

"Will do," said Raven.

"We've got that covered," said Cyborg. A smirk came on his face. "Enjoy your time with the missus as long as you want. We won't be in any hurry."

Robin mentally groaned, but chose to hold his tongue. "I'll be with you shortly."

Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg continued down the path towards the T-Ship, the two boys giggling and sniggering. The Boy Wonder rolled his eyes and walked over to Starfire. As she looked forlornly in the direction her brother had gone with Galfore, she briefly started in surprise when Robin placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Is everything ok?"

Starfire hung her head. "I suppose everything could be the worse. But it could also be the better."

"Well whatever's making you feel that way, you can tell me."

She sighed. "It is about Wildfire," she explained. "It is truly a delight to have seen him again after all this time. I just wish I could have been with him longer before going back to Earth."

Robin nodded his head. He could certainly understand why Starfire would feel this way. He also, however, had a feeling that the reason she'd given wasn't the only thing on her mind. "It would have been nice for your reunion to last longer than it did. I'll admit to that." He nodded his head. "But know this, at least now you know he's alive; and if fate so wills it, you may yet see him again within the near future."

"Well yes, I suppose that's true. But still, he's my brother, and he's been missing from my life for so long . . ."

"Well that's all the more reason why all the time you have had with him so far, or will have with him later, needs to be treasured." He placed his other hand on his girlfriend's other shoulder. "When you love anyone as much as you love your brother, or as much as you love anyone else you care about for that matter, you need to do the opposite of what Cometbolt did whenever they're not directly in your life. You can't constantly focus on the fact that those people aren't immediately with you. You need to treasure your memories of those people and their time with you, hold on tight, and never let them go."

He raised his finger. "Furthermore, if at all possible, you must also keep yourself in the company of others you care about, likely those who also care about and miss that absent person, and allow yourself to heal and feel happy despite the absence alongside them."

Starfire turned her head to look at Robin, noting the sage like look on his face. In that moment, she could tell that he'd seen right through her and guessed the secondary reason behind her current state. She hung her head once more and sighed. "I suppose this is also something our friends and I must do if we fail to save you from your deal."

Robin nodded, and tightened his grip on her shoulders. "Yes Star, it is. I know you guys are working your hardest to figure out some way to get me out of going through with all that, but you have to be willing to consider the possibility that there might not be a way to save me."

"I know."

"I'm not trying to discourage you," Robin explained. "Not at all. But regardless of what happens, as long as you follow this advice I've just given you, I can promise that you won't end up like Cometbolt."

"But Cometbolt didn't truly love me," Starfire rebutted. "He just thought he did. I genuinely love you." She sighed. "And to be the honest, I'm honestly surprised you still love me now despite having found out the second hand about what I used to have with Cometbolt."

"He may not have loved you the way we love each other Star, but he still could have avoided becoming the way he ultimately turned out if he hadn't isolated himself and fully devoted himself to searching for you and focusing on your absence. I know you're different than that. When you know you need help, you actively seek it out amongst people you know; and even if you weren't that type of person, I know that Cyborg and the others would never let you isolate yourself and become consumed with missing me the way Cometbolt did. And I know they'd keep you from trying anything drastic."

The Boy Wonder placed his finger under Starfire's chin, lifting it up so they could look each other in the eyes. "For all we know, maybe I'm wrong and you'll find a way to save me. But regardless, if you lose me in any way, you won't end up like Cometbolt. Not if you treasure the memories of our time together instead of focusing on the fact that I'm gone; and especially not if you keep yourself in the company of all our other friends who love you in their own way and know what to do to cheer you up and help you heal even though I'm gone."

He took a deep breath. "And you know what? I don't care about the fact that you had someone else in your life that you loved in that way before me. Like you said, you forgot about him. And even if you had deliberately kept him a secret from me, so what? We all have our secrets; and besides, whatever you had with him, that's all in the past now. What matters now is the present, and the present is you and me. I love _you_ Star, not some idealized and twisted image that I want you to be."

He placed his left hand back on Starfire's right shoulder. "And as far as I'm concerned, having someone to love and be loved by in that proper way we do for each other is all we need in that regard."

Starfire thought to herself, nodded her head as if accepting that Robin was right, and then sniffled as if about to cry. "I suppose that's the true. But . . . I'll still miss you . . . just as much as Wildfire . . . if . . . not . . . more. . ."

Robin hugged his girlfriend, who returned with a noticeably bearable embrace of her own, laying her head on Robin's shoulder and crying. For several minutes they stayed this way, with Robin comforting Starfire as the Tamaranean princess continued to cry on his shoulder. Starfire finally got ahold of herself, and the two split from their embrace. Starfire sniffled, and nodded her head. "I am the ok."

"And for now, that will be just enough."

The Boy Wonder clasped onto Starfire's hand. "Come on Star. Let's go home. We've got 10 months left before I really have to worry about getting my affairs in order; and I plan for all of us to make the most out of those months whenever possible. Besides." He directed a half cheeky and half loving grin Starfire's way. "I do believe I still owe you a dance."

Starfire giggled, remembering how Cometbolt had prevented them from taking part in a planned romantic private dance back on Gordania. "Yes you do."

Hand in hand, the two lovers walked down the Tamaranean palace hall to follow the direction their fellow titans had taken to reach their ship. In that instant, Robin felt confident and happy that he'd helped cheer Starfire up. Starfire, meanwhile, still privately felt saddened and worried. But at the same time, she also now felt happier and more hopeful then she had before Robin's pep talk.

As much as she and the other titans wished nothing more than to prevent it, it was still very possible that they'd be unable to save their fearless leader when his time ran out at the end of the year. But now, she also felt reassured that she at least had an adequate support system to potentially help her through the loss. Unlike her past lover Cometbolt, she had friends who loved and cared for her. And not only would they be the first to come to her if she needed help, but she herself would gladly come to them for help if she knew she needed it; especially in the kind of situation that would arise if she lost her current, and very much genuine, lover. And for now, much like Robin himself had said, that would be enough.

 **The End**

 **And just like that, this story is finally done! Once again, I hope that, despite this story's comparatively lower quality, you were all able to read, review, and enjoy it (and that I myself am able to have my planned stories that follow this one be much better). For that matter, if any of you still feel curious about Tigorr, Euphorix, the Omega Men, or similar elements of Wildfire's story, feel free to look them up on the internet (especially on the DC Wiki) to get further information (and perhaps ask me through PM or review for even further discussion). All that said, once again, I hope you were all able to enjoy the ending of this story (and this entire story in general despite, again, it's comparative lower quality), and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, in order for me to allow the posting of so much as the BEGINNING of the next story (not to mention a little oneshot somewhat leading into said next story that I've been challenged into making by esteemed writers Bearhow and GolemXIV), I require a minimum of 2 reviews to be posted for this story's epilogue). All in all, hope everyone had fun with this story, find this epilogue at least passable, and that you all continue to read and show your support for the stories that follow ^_^**

 **Next up on Teen Titans Season 6: Trident is once again on the loose within the ocean, and he plans to cause some serious trouble for Atlantis now that he's finally gotten past his brief flash freeze induced setback from his business with the Brotherhood of Evil. Fortunately, Aqualad is able to get the founding Titans, plus an additional Titans-based ally from Titans East, to tag along to help provide assistance for him and the Atlanteans in putting a stop to Trident's plans. However, when a subsequent underwater battle with Trident sends the teenage heroes off course, they soon find out that Trident could yet surprisingly be the least of their problems. Can the Titans successfully save Atlantis from both the obvious immediate threat of Trident** ** _AND_** **this unexpected potentially even worse hidden threat they've now stumbled upon? Find out next time, on Teen Titans . . . Season 6.**


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